Inside an abandoned Cambodian scam centre seized by Thai troops

Associated Press

In the town of O’Smach, along Cambodia’s northern border with Thailand, stands a compound of abandoned buildings that were battered by shelling during recent weeks of armed clashes.

The site, now occupied by Thai troops, had served as one of Cambodia’s notorious scam centres, according to Thai officials.

A six-storey building, shown to journalists and international observers on Monday during a trip organised by the Thai military, is scattered with documents, equipment and personal belongings, likely abandoned in haste.

“They are well organised. They have good infrastructure and systems, and also the workflow and many, many tactics and techniques to do the scams,” said Lieutenant General Teeranan Nandhakwang, director of the Thai army’s intelligence unit.

Experts say such scam operations in Cambodia and elsewhere have cheated people around the world out of billions of dollars and tricked people from many countries into working in them under slave-like conditions.

The Thai military said the compound was secured during the clashes in December because Cambodian forces had used it as a military base.