The border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia has led to more information being revealed about the reality of scam centres in the region.

Southeast Asia has become notorious for the proliferation of such networks, which have reportedly scammed people out of billions of dollars and are often set up in compounds or disused casinos.

Now strikes made in O’Smach, a town along Cambodia’s northern border, by the Thai army during the latest escalation of the border dispute in December have laid bare the realities of the operations.

Images released by Associated Press Thailand show rows of bunk beds used by workers, many of whom are allegedly the victims of human trafficking, as well as work stations and even mock setups of police stations and banks.

In some of the photos, Thai journalists are shown wearing the fake uniform of Singaporean Police while standing in a set that resembles a police station.

According to the Thai military, the compound was secured in December during clashes with the Cambodian army, as they claim it was also being used as a military base.

However, officials in Cambodia have refuted the claims, accusing Thailand of illegally occupying the territory under the guise of enforcement action against the alleged scam centre.

“Cambodia fully supports international cooperation to combat transnational cybercrime, including online scams and human trafficking. However, we firmly reject the Thai military’s efforts to solidify the illegitimate occupation of Cambodian sovereign territory, under the guise of anti-scam law enforcement,” a Government official told local outlet the Khmer Times.

Cambodia has made significant progress when it comes to addressing the country’s issues with this type of crime.

In January, authorities ordered the extradition of Chen Zhi to China, a business tycoon who is accused of running an “industrial scale” fraud network by law enforcement agencies around the globe, including the UK and the US.

Zhi is the Founder of Prince Holding Group, a multi-billion-pound conglomerate based in Cambodia that has been accused of constructing casinos and compounds to facilitate scams totalling billions of dollars using forced labour – in a similar fashion witnessed by journalists in O’Smach.

Phnom Penh also confirmed that Zhi’s Cambodian citizenship was revoked by Royal Decree in December 2025.

Thailand and Cambodia have been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800 km land border for more than a century, and the region has been the site of armed disputes for almost as long.

The most recent escalation of the disharmony saw the two countries engage in weeks of deadly clashes, before a ceasefire was agreed on 27 December.

During this time, the gambling industry became increasingly embroiled in the hostility, as the Thai army staged strikes against casinos that it claimed were being used to store artillery, machine guns and other weapons.

Previously, Thai citizens were also prevented from crossing the border to work in Poipet at the Cambodian city’s various casinos.

 

 

 

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