Over 600 flee Myanmar rip-off centre to Thailand after crackdown: Thai official

More than 600 individuals fled considered one of Myanmar’s most infamous rip-off centres and crossed into Thailand, a Thai provincial official advised AFP on Thursday (October 23, 2025), after a navy raid on the compound.

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

Sprawling compounds the place web fraudsters goal individuals with romance and enterprise cons have thrived alongside Myanmar’s loosely ruled border throughout its civil battle, sparked by a 2021 coup.

A extremely publicised crackdown beginning in February noticed round 7,000 employees repatriated and Thailand enact a cross-border web blockade.

But an AFP investigation this month revealed building has continued apace, whereas Starlink web service receivers have been put in en masse, seeming to attach the hubs to the Elon Musk-owned satellite tv for pc community.

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

He added the method will enable authorities to find out if people are victims of human trafficking, and if not, they could be prosecuted for unlawful border crossing.

While some rip-off employees are clearly trafficked into typically fortified compounds, specialists say others go voluntarily with hopes of incomes extra within the multibillion-dollar illicit trade than they will at house.

The Tak Provincial Administration workplace, which oversees the world, stated in an announcement that the group coming into from Myanmar comprised “foreign nationals” — each women and men — and authorities anticipated extra to cross into Thailand.