39 foreigners flee Myanmar scam center

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

Fraudsters have mushroomed in Myanmar’s border areas and are staffed by foreigners who are often trafficked and forced to work, defrauding their fellow countrymen in a sector that analysts say is worth billions.

The group from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia and Russia entered Thailand’s Tak province, the city’s police chief Mae Sot said.

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

Myawaddy is controlled by a military 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 learning that 32 of its citizens were stuck in Myanmar, Petcharat said.

The group that escaped and arrived in Thailand also included five Nepalis, a Malaysian and a Russian.

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

The group entered Thailand on Sunday evening, said a member of the security forces in Mae Sot, who requested anonymity to speak to the media.

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

Thai local media reported that the group had responded to social media advertisements promising well-paid work, but were then subjected to grueling conditions in a scam center.

Some Sri Lankan workers later successfully contacted the embassy.

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

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

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

Local media in Myanmar have reported that scammers who escaped the offensive have since moved further south along the border with Thailand.

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