More than 200 foreigners rescued from scam ring in Cambodia

The raid on a three-story building in the border city of Poipet in Banteay Meanchey province was carried out by Cambodian police on February 22 after receiving information that a group of scammers had rented the building to run online scam operations.

Cambodian police have successfully rescued 215 victims, including 109 Thais, 50 Pakistanis, 48 ​​Indians, five Taiwanese and three Indonesians, Thai government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub said on February 23.

“This is the largest number of Thai victims rescued from a building suspected of cyber fraud in either country,” Jirayu added, stressing that the raid was the result of joint efforts between Thailand and Cambodia to eradicate fraud centers.

In fact, the “easy work, high pay” scam has become more prominent in recent years, with thousands of Asian victims being lured to centers in the Cambodian border region, forced to commit online fraud and subjected to brutal torture if they fail to meet “quotas”.

In recent times, Southeast Asian countries have stepped up efforts to crack down on fraud centers with a series of coordinated crackdowns along the Thai-Myanmar border.

According to Thai Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, the country has proactively cooperated with China and Myanmar to cut off water, electricity and fuel supplies at five key locations along the Thai-Myanmar border to weaken and effectively prevent the activities of fraud gangs.

The Thai military also said on February 22 that China had repatriated 621 citizens rescued from scam centers in these areas in the past few days, part of a large-scale plan to rescue victims held by criminal gangs in Myawaddy.