Cambodia scam compound yields fraud evidence: Thai army
The Thai military says it has found ample evidence of international fraud from a Cambodian fraud facility seized last year during clashes along disputed borders between the two countries.
Briefing journalists and foreign delegates in Surin province, senior Thai military officials said the O’Smach complex houses thousands of people, many of whom are victims of human trafficking forced to defraud foreigners or face punishment.
The soldiers then showed reporters around one of several buildings in the complex that was bombed and occupied by the Thai army late last year.
The six-story building was filled with documents, including long lists of what appeared to be potential targets and their contact information, as well as scripts for scam dialogues.
The Thai military said items seized from O’Smach included 871 SIM cards, dozens of smartphones, fake police emblems and police uniforms.
Reporters visiting the complex saw several rooms set up to resemble police offices and law enforcement uniforms from at least seven countries: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Brazil.
These setups were crucial to a scam in which people were targeted by scam operators posing as officials or other authority figures.
Scripted approaches were intended to threaten arrest or other legal action if instructions were not followed.
O’Smach has previously been named as a base for fraud operations involving the United States, citing smuggling and forced crime.
“The reason we are showing this place today is because we want the world to see how this place is being used as a base for crimes against humanity,” Lieutenant General Teeranan Nandhakwang, director general of the Royal Thai Army’s Intelligence Directorate, told reporters.
Cambodian interior ministry spokesman Touch Sokhak told Reuters Thailand was using fraud centers as an excuse for military strikes.
He said Cambodia was implementing a crackdown on scams and vowed to eliminate the illegal industry before April.
Thailand and Cambodia ended weeks of violent border clashes in late December with a ceasefire – the second in as many months – that halted the worst fighting between the two countries in years.
During the conflict, the Thai military attacked several casino complexes that were alleged to be fraudulent compounds and said they were also used to store weapons and carry out attacks.
The ceasefire in December envisaged the warring parties reducing tensions and keeping their forces in positions they occupied before the agreement.
This includes the compound on Cambodian territory currently occupied by Thai troops.
Parts of Southeast Asia, including the border regions between Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, have become hubs for online fraud in recent years, generating billions of dollars in revenue each year.
with AP
