Thai military officials announced on Monday (February 2nd) that during last year’s conflict near the disputed border between Thailand and Cambodia, the Thai military found evidence of transnational fraud activities in a sealed Cambodian scam operation area.
According to Reuters, senior Thai military officials in Surin briefed the media and foreign representatives on the situation. They stated that the O’Smach scam zone in Cambodia once housed thousands of people, many of whom were victims of human trafficking. They were forced to engage in fraudulent activities there, or face punishment.
Thai soldiers led the media to visit one of the buildings in the area destroyed and occupied by the Thai military. It was a six-story building scattered with a large number of documents, including lengthy lists of potential fraud targets and their contact information, as well as scripts for fraudulent conversations.
O’Smach has previously been accused of being a fraud hub involving human trafficking and forced criminal activities. Teeranan Nandhakwang, Director-General of the Thai Army Intelligence Department, told the media, “We are showing this place today in the hope that the world will see how it is being used as a base for crimes against humanity.”
Touch Sokhak, a spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Interior, told Reuters that Thailand used the excuse of a fraud center to launch military actions. He stated that Cambodia is cracking down on fraudulent activities and pledged to eradicate this illegal industry by April.
Thailand and Cambodia reached a ceasefire agreement at the end of December last year to end weeks of intense border conflict. It was the second ceasefire in recent months, putting an end to the most serious exchanges of fire between the two countries in recent years.
During the conflict, the Thai military attacked several gambling complexes it claimed were fraud centers, stating that these locations were also used as weapon storage and attack bases.
In recent years, parts of Southeast Asia, including border areas of Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia, have become centers for online fraud, with annual fraud amounts reaching billions of dollars.
The Thai military stated that items seized in O’Smach included 871 SIM cards that could be used for anonymous international communication, dozens of smartphones, counterfeit police badges, and uniforms.
During the tour of the building complex, the media also saw that several rooms were decorated as police stations from countries such as China, Brazil, and Australia, including the Pudong Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.