Cambodia returns 119 Thais in crackdown on cyberscam centres
Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia have ramped up efforts to curb a cyberscam industry worth billions of dollars a year
Cambodia’s immigration department said in a post on its Facebook page that the Thais – 61 men and 58 women – had “snuck in to work and stayed illegally” in the kingdom.
They were among 230 foreigners detained during raids on alleged cyberscam centres in the border city of Poipet on February 22 and 23, it said.
The Thais were deported via the Poipet border checkpoint on Saturday, it added.
Cyberscam centres – which lure foreigners to work in scam hothouses swindling people with online romance and cryptocurrency investment cons – have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years.
Cambodian authorities launched high-profile raids on the illegal compounds in late 2022.
Saturday’s handover comes a day after Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra visited Sa Kaeo, the Thai town neighbouring Poipet, to “eliminate call centre gangs”, she said in a post on social media platform X.