Despite a weeks-long multinational crackdown, scam centres along the Thai-Myanmar border are still operating with up to 100,000 people working there, according to the top police general leading Thailand ’s operations against the fraud compounds. Thailand is fronting a regional effort to dismantle scam centres along its borders, which are part of a Southeast Asian network of illegal facilities that generate billions of US dollars every year, often using people trafficked there by criminal gangs, according to the United Nations . Based on early assessments of some of the 5,000 people pulled out of sprawling scam hubs in Myanmar ’s Myawaddy area, hundreds went there voluntarily, said Police General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, calling for careful investigations among nationals of over a dozen countries to winnow out criminals. Thai Police General Thatchai
Tag Archives: HumanTrafficking
Jan
Hong Kong security officials’ visit to Thailand can serve as a fresh warning to residents vulnerable to high-paying job scams, although it is unlikely to lead to the immediate return of those being lured to work in Southeast Asia, a lawmaker has said. Security legislator Gary Chan Hak-kan argued the government had dispatched the task force following a sudden increase in missing persons reports over the past month, pleas for assistance by the families of victims and the recent rescue of mainland Chinese actor Wang Xing, who fell prey to a human trafficking network. The task force, led by Undersecretary for Security Michael Cheuk Hau-yip, left for Bangkok on Sunday night. Its members plan to meet officials from Thai authorities and the Chinese embassy there, including representatives of the anti-human