A cross-border operation to free thousands of people from scam ‘centres’ situated at the Thai-Myanmar border has highlighted the challenges of bringing these criminal enterprises to justice.  

In February, the Thai government and armed groups in Myanmar – with support from China – released around 7,000 trafficked individuals from compounds on the border where they’d been forced into conducting criminal activity, such as fraud, online. The victims of such online crimes were located as far away as North America and Europe.  

The UN says hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to be trapped in scam centres, primarily in Myanmar and Cambodia, and that the number of such compounds has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic. Individuals are lured away from their homes in countries such as Ethiopia and Uganda with the promise of lucrative employment. Typically, the individuals fly to Thailand, where they’re met by a representative who transports them into a neighbouring country and then to the scam centre. Conditions at the compounds are reportedly poor, with workers being fed little and forced to undertake 21-hour shifts. 

Commentators say those trafficked or targeted by the scams probably won’t get justice, however, because the region lacks the legal framework and resources to prosecute such complex, cross-border criminal operations. 

The resulting publicity pushed China to exert pressure on Thailand to work with armed groups in Myanmar to shut down electricity, fuel and the internet in border areas and to issue arrest warrants for known leaders. Many of the workers subsequently released from the scam centres are now waiting to be repatriated. One hundred and twenty-five Thai citizens were also rescued in February from similar compounds in Cambodia. 

But even with the testimonies of those who’ve worked in the centres, building a case against those behind the operations can be difficult, says Chutiphong Pipoppinyo, a member of the Thai parliament. ‘The main issue is that in every process there are hurdles […] to charge and arrest, [the] evidence has to be strong,’ he says.  

Lin, who’s Deputy Head of the Commercial and Corporate Disputes Practice at Singapore-based Wong Partnership, says those countries in which scam centres are prevalent may not have sufficient expertise or trained personnel who are able to gather, preserve and analyse the digital evidence. Scams may also be treated differently between jurisdictions. ‘A scam may be illegal in one, but might not be explicitly illegal in another,’ she says.  

Stephen Baker, Co-Chair of the IBA Asset Recovery Committee, says it’s difficult to trace the assets lost and return them to victims. ‘The assets stolen are often tumbled through multiple accounts [or] platforms, through numerous transactions designed to launder the assets and confound their tracing,’ he explains. 

Lin says there’s a need for local laws to more effectively address such criminal activities and for enforcement agencies to be upskilled in investigating and prosecuting these crimes. ‘Lawyers who are familiar with the tactics that the scam centres use, for example, the technologies used to confound tracing of assets, and have experience with cross-border asset recovery, are better placed to support victims of the scams,’ she says. ‘Time is also usually of the essence, and the earlier the victims reach out to lawyers, the earlier the cross-border legal strategies can be mapped out.’ 

Baker, who’s Managing Partner at Baker & Partners in Jersey, advocates for the creation of a regional group, made up of the various enforcement authorities in different jurisdictions, together with the private lawyers who specialise in these areas, to address the knowledge gap. 

Wojcik believes that a harmonised regional approach is key. In practice, this means conducting further joint investigations and operations and the creation of a platform through which Southeast Asian countries can exchange information – something UNODC is trying to help facilitate.  

Additionally, he recommended that countries regulate virtual asset or cryptocurrency providers, if they haven’t already. Having no regulatory oversight allows criminal syndicates to launder and transfer criminal proceeds, said Wojcik, but cracking down in this area could have an impact. ‘Nothing hurts these organisations more than asset forfeiture,’ he said. 

Thailand’s Public Relations Department plans to strengthen border controls, recognising it is often a transit hub for trafficked victims. The Thai police are also setting up a coordination centre with Chinese authorities ‘to investigate and combat call centre gangs based in Myawaddy, Myanmar, and along the Cambodian border, which involve many Chinese and Thai nationals.’  

But Myanmar is in the midst of a civil war, with different parts of the country ruled by either the military or an ethnic armed group, making large-scale collaboration difficult. This fragility is partly why Myanmar is thought to have been targeted by criminal syndicates. The problem, Wojcik explained, is that the ‘the region itself is no better than its weakest link.’ 

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