Over 600 flee Myanmar scam centre to Thailand after crackdown

BANGKOK: More than 600 people fled one of Myanmar’s most notorious scam centres and crossed into Thailand, a Thai provincial official told AFP on Thursday, after a military raid on the compound.

“677 people fled from the scam centre” KK Park in Myanmar across the Moei river into Thailand as of Thursday morning, said Sawanit Suriyakul Na Ayutthaya, deputy governor of Tak province on the Myanmar border.

Sprawling compounds where internet fraudsters target people with romance and business cons have thrived along Myanmar’s loosely governed border during its civil war, sparked by a 2021 coup.

A highly publicised crackdown starting in February saw around 7,000 workers repatriated and Thailand enact a cross-border internet blockade.

But an AFP investigation this month revealed construction has continued apace, while Starlink internet service receivers have been installed en masse, seeming to connect the hubs to the Elon Musk-owned satellite network.

“Immigration police and a military task force have worked together to provide assistance under humanitarian procedures… and they will undergo screening,” Sawanit told AFP on Thursday.

He added the process will allow authorities to determine if individuals are victims of human trafficking, and if not, they may be prosecuted for illegal border crossing.

While some scam workers are clearly trafficked into often fortified compounds, experts say others go voluntarily with hopes of earning more in the multibillion-dollar illicit industry than they can at home.

The Tak Provincial Administration office, which oversees the area, said in a statement that the group entering from Myanmar comprised “foreign nationals” — both men and women — and authorities expected more to cross into Thailand.