Communications equipment being relocated from a scam compound in Myanmar to a new base in Cambodia was captured at a Thai border checkpoint last week, per a joint announcement from Thailand’s police and military. The seizure occurred in Mae Ramat, a western region that borders Kayin state in Myanmar. Kayin has long been a battleground between military dictators who govern Myanmar and the native Karen people who have sought independence since the end of British colonial rule.
Thai soldiers stopped and searched a four-wheel drive vehicle which was found to contain communications and computer equipment estimated to be worth USD300,000 in total, including 1,251 mobile phones and 274 SIM cards. The driver admitted under interrogation that he had been paid THB5,000 (USD150) to take the equipment across Thailand to a person in Sa Kaeo Province, which borders Cambodia.
As previously reported on Commsrisk, the civil war in Myanmar is prompting gangsters to relocate scam compounds to Cambodia before they are overrun by Myanmar’s rebel armies. Thailand lies between both countries, and has no desire to see its citizens fall victim to scams run from compounds that sit outside of their jurisdiction, but which are close enough to easily hire native Thai speakers to facilitate crime. Thai authorities have ramped up the resources dedicated to locating and seizing simboxes, satellite dishes, phones, cables and other equipment used by scammers before it is delivered in Cambodia.
Thailand’s anti-scam strategy also includes cutting internet cables and demolishing mobile base stations that were providing connectivity to scammers over the border. The state-owned energy company which services Thailand’s provinces will also begin reducing the transnational supply of electricity to towns in Kayin state and other parts of Myanmar to further inhibit the operation of scam compounds.
Official photographs of the Mae Ramat seizure and the confiscated equipment can be seen below.
