39 foreigners flee Myanmar scam center – Thai police

A general view of Myanmar’s Myawaddy town is seen from across the Thai side in Mae Sot district on April 11, 2024. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

BANGKOK — Thirty nine foreigners have fled an online scam centre in Myanmar across the border to Thailand, where officials are working to identify potential trafficking victims, police told AFP on Monday.

Scam compounds have mushroomed in Myanmar’s borderlands and are staffed by foreigners who are often trafficked and forced to work, swindling their compatriots in an industry analysts say is worth billions.

The group from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia and Russia crossed into Thailand’s Tak province, according to the police chief in the city of Mae Sot.

READ: 24 ‘trafficked’ Filipinos rescued in Myanmar

They had fled from Myawaddy just across the border, Colonel Pittayakorn Petcharat told AFP.

Myawaddy is controlled by a military-aligned militia and is a hotbed of drug production and online scam outfits, according to observers.

Sri Lanka’s embassy in Bangkok had asked Thai authorities for help after it was informed that 32 of its citizens were trapped in Myanmar, said Petcharat.

Five Nepalis, one Malaysian and one Russian were also in the group that escaped and arrived in Thailand.

READ: Southeast Asia human trafficking now a global crisis, Interpol says

AFP has contacted the embassies of the four countries for comment.

The group crossed into Thailand on Sunday night, said a member of the security forces in Mae Sot, who asked for anonymity to talk to the media.

Immigration officials were working to identify potential victims of human trafficking, Petcharat said.

Thai local media reported the group had responded to adverts on social media promising well-paid work but were then subjected to gruelling conditions in a scam centre.

Some of the Sri Lankan workers later successfully contacted the embassy.

Myanmar’s northern border with China was previously a hotbed for online scam centers, often run by militias aligned with the ruling junta.

But a sweeping offensive by an alliance of ethnic rebels last year cleared many of the scam centers out.

More than 40,000 people suspected of taking part in cyber scams in Myanmar were handed over to China in 2023, Beijing state media said this year.

Local Myanmar media have reported that scam bosses who escaped the offensive have since set up shop further south along the border with Thailand.

Last December Myanmar junta chief and Thai military officials agreed to “jointly eradicate online gambling and online scams near Myawaddy”, according to Myanmar state media.