Thai man swims across Thai-Cambodian border after scam operation escape
A Thai man swam across a border canal into Thailand today, July 31, after escaping a scam operation in Poipet, Cambodia, where he said he had been forced to work for more than three years after being lured by a fake job advertisement on TikTok.
Soldiers from the Burapha Task Force, including the Aranyaprathet Task Force intelligence unit and Ranger Company 1203, detained the 19 year old near a natural border crossing in Tha Kham subdistrict, Aranyaprathet district, Sa Kaeo province.
The officers had been monitoring the area following reports of an illegal border crossing. They spotted the Thai man emerging from the border area on foot and detained him. No smuggler was found with him.
The man told investigators that three years ago he applied for a job through TikTok after seeing an advertisement for a chat administrator position offering a monthly salary of 20,000 baht.
He said a vehicle collected him from his home in Chon Buri province and took him to Aranyaprathet district, where a Cambodian national helped him cross the border illegally into Poipet.
After arriving, he said he was sold to a Chinese-run company and forced to work in a scam operation, unable to return to Thailand.
According to his account, he escaped after Cambodian authorities launched a crackdown on call centre scam gangs, prompting his Chinese boss to flee with the company’s money. He then swam across a canal into Thailand and walked along a natural border route hoping to return to his family.
Before he could reach home, however, he was detained by Thai Rangers and handed over to investigators at Khlong Luek Police Station for legal proceedings.
Amarin TV reported that police are also expanding their investigation into a network of brokers alleged to have used social media to lure Thai people into jobs abroad.
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