Thailand and China will work together to combat fast-growing networks of illegal call centres along Thailand's borders with Myanmar and Cambodia, often staffed by trafficked workers, that aim to defraud people in phone and online scams.
Southeast Asia, especially border areas between Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, has become a hub for telecom and other online fraud since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the United Nations, which said hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked to work in scam centres.
According to Thai police, a coordination centre would be set up at the national police headquarters in Bangkok and Chinese authorities plan to set up another one in Thailand's Mae Sot district, which borders Myanmar's Myawaddy, a major hub for the scam call centres.
Earlier, on January 21, Chinese state media reported that officials from China, Myanmar, and Thailand had agreed to eliminate telecom fraud rings operating in Myanmar at a meeting held in Kunming, China./.
VNA
