Thai police seek international help to end Cambodia scam call centres

Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) is coordinating with their counterparts in other countries, whose citizens have fallen victim to scam call centres based in Cambodia, to apply pressure on its government to crack down on the flourishing illegal businesses there.

CCIB Commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Trairong Piewpan said today that, when Thai and Cambodian forces engaged in fierce fighting along the shared border, starting on July 24th, about 1,000 Thai nationals, who were working in the scam centres in Poipet, a Cambodian border town opposite Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province, returned across the border fearing of reprisals by the Cambodians.

Subsequently, another 2,000 Thais sought to return but, when a ceasefire agreement was reached on July 29th, half of them changed their minds and remained in Cambodia to continue working in the scam call centres and casinos.

Trairong further noted that daily online scam complaints received by the CCIB dropped to 800-900 cases, from about 1,100 prior to the armed conflict, but they have now climbed back to about 1,000 a day after the ceasefire was agreed, indicating that the call centres are operating as normal, even though some have relocated to Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.

The CCIB commissioner said that Cambodia has rejected Thailand’s proposal for cooperation in dealing with the scam businesses, while the CCIB itself has no jurisdiction in Cambodia, adding that the only solution now is international pressure on Cambodia.