9 Thais rescued from Chinese call center gang in Cambodia
By Pattaya Mail
December 20, 2023
The victims comprising eight men and one woman fled and sought protection at the Klong Luek permanent border checkpoint in Aranyaprathet district.
The Royal Thai Army and Sa Kaeo Provincial Police have assisted nine Thai nationals who were deceived into working for a call center scam in a Cambodian border town of Poipet.
The victims comprising eight men and one woman fled and sought protection at the Klong Luek permanent border checkpoint in Aranyaprathet district.
Several sustained injuries, and none of them possessed travel documents. Authorities transported them to rest at an army base.
One of the victims recounted being tricked into working for the Chinese-operated call center gang, falsely promising lucrative salaries for work at a stock trading company in Poipet.
Upon arrival, they were coerced into working for the call center scam to defraud Thai people, and failure to comply resulted in physical harm.
About 200 other Thais were trafficked, confined and forced to work for the gang, with some Thai women forced into prostitution, the victim said. (TNA)
December 21, 2023
Police to investigate casino call centre scam involving Thai victims
The Police Chief of Banteay Meanchey province says he and his team will cooperate with their Thai counterparts to seriously investigate the case of Thai nationals who claimed that they were the victims of a casino based call centre gang in Poipet city.
The story went viral after Thai media published reports on nine Thai nationals, aged between 23 and 47 years, who were rescued by the Immigration Bureau police and Ranger Forces Company 1201 officers at the border checkpoint in Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province on Monday.
The eight men and one woman told rangers and immigration police at Aranyaprathet’s Ban Klong Luek border checkpoint that they lit a fire at the Pu Li Casino in Poipet before fleeing back over the border near the checkpoint.
As quoted by the Bangkok Post, Phumipat Chairat said he and the others sneaked across the border after being promised jobs at the casino, only to find later that they were forced to work for a call centre gang operating from the building.
The gang threatened to beat or kill those who refused to make scam calls to deceive fellow Thais in Thailand. The so-called victims also claimed to have witnessed Thai victims being shot dead by the gang members, he said.
“11 others who also tried to escape have been recaptured,” Chairat added.
Khmer Times is able to confirm the existence and location of the Pu Li Casino on Google Maps and in social media posts. However, there has been no story about a fire taking place at the casino.
According to Assawin Saothong, commander of a ranger company in charge of the Ban Klong Luek border checkpoint area, the group told the police that about 200 other Thais were being detained in the aforementioned casino.
The nine Thais who have just been rescued are now receiving treatment at the hospital, as most of them have small cuts or were lightly wounded when they were rescued. The Thai police will contact their Cambodian counterparts for further action, Assawin added.
Banteay Meanchey Provincial Police Chief Major General Sith Los said he only learned about the case when Khmer Times journalist contacted him for comment yesterday. However, he said he will order his team to start working immediately on the case to take action if confirmed.
“I will order our anti-human trafficking department to work with our Thai counterparts on the investigation. We will investigate this seriously, for this is a major case for both countries,” he said.
It was confirmed later yesterday that the Banteay Meanchey Police had an emergency meeting to discuss the case.
In recent years, Cambodia has been a hot topic, as the country has seen a rise in human trafficking cases with ‘job scams’ modus operandi, involving victims and criminals from multiple nations around the world.
While most of the cases have been found in Preah Sihanouk province, the increased effort on crackdowns by the police has pushed the criminal syndicates to move their operations elsewhere in the country, especially in the border areas and special economic zones, as found out by the Ministry of Interior later.
Nevertheless, in the past year, fewer cases have been reported. Still, Chou Bun Eng, vice chairwoman of the National Committee for Counter Trafficking, has on numerous occasions asked foreign governments to put in more efforts into cooperation with the Cambodian authorities on investigating and cracking down on the traffickers, who most of the time seem to be one step ahead due to their strong reliance on modern technology for their evil operations.
“All countries should be involved. For Cambodia, we are doing our best to combat the crime, but everyone knows that criminals will not come and tell us about their operations,” Bun Eng told Khmer Times in a past interview.
“The crimes are happening and we crack down on them when we find out about them, yet the offenders always find new ways to avoid detection,” she added.
縱火逃離柬詐騙魔窟 9泰人帶傷向邊防求救
2023-12-20
（曼谷20日綜合電）9名被騙到柬埔寨從事電信詐騙的泰國人日前在邊境獲救，他們稱是在縱火燒賭場大樓後逃脫，一路被團夥持刀追殺到泰柬邊境檢查站，遍體鱗傷，所幸獲得邊境駐軍出手救助。
綜合泰國星暹新聞、泰國頭條新聞和《民族報》報道，周一（18日）清晨，沙繳府阿蘭亞巴貼縣邊境檢查站附近，9名泰國人從柬埔寨波貝一側的賭場跑來，試圖翻越邊境圍欄躲避一群在後面持刀追殺他們的人。
據報道，這9人身體狀況十分糟糕。其中一些人的胳膊和腿上帶有傷口，他們緊緊抓住泰國邊境檢查站的大門，高聲呼救。由於早上6時邊境口岸尚未開放，而且他們沒有護照無法進入。工作人員打開了邊境檢站的大門，將9名泰國人留在沙繳府邊境檢部隊，以等待救援。
隨後，救護車將所有人送往當地醫院接受治療，發現其中一人的腿部遭受利器刺傷，一人手部被砍傷，兩人的手部和手臂被鐵絲網割傷，其餘人身上都有輕微擦傷。
9人中有8人是男性，1名女性，年齡最大者43歲，最小的只有21歲。
其中一人說，他們被團夥騙去柬埔寨波貝從事電信詐騙，從自然通道跨越邊境，在車輛接載他們抵達目的地途中全都蒙住雙眼，抵達目的地後身份證和護照全被沒收。自己和很多同胞目睹了一名泰國人被鎗殺，屍體被拋到荒野外，他們一直被毆打和電擊。
他們指，賭場里大約有200名泰國人被拘留並強迫工作，還有一些泰國年輕女性被強迫賣淫。因為他們聽說自己要被再次販賣，於是召集了11個人，共同尋找逃走的機會。直至18日凌晨3時左右，他們在混亂中放火點燃房間內的床墊引發火災，遂破門窗逃走。
但遇到守衛時發生了衝突，導致一些人被刀砍傷。最終，只有9人得以逃脫，另外兩人則被抓回去了。”
據在柬的泰國人提供的信息，有許多泰國女性受困在那棟賭場大樓內，被逼迫在大樓2樓賣淫，而該棟大樓並不是開設賭場，而是被不法分子租下做電詐基地。
目前該地區的泰國援助人士已經將有關信息報告給了國家警察總署副署長素拉切警上將，目前他正準備與柬埔寨警總長進行協調，要求前往上述大樓進行檢查。
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