Eight held crossing border after scam job offers in Cambodia

2026-03-26 - 09:21

SA KAEO — 26 March 2026, Thai authorities have arrested eight people for illegally crossing the border in Aranyaprathet district after they were allegedly lured into scam operations in Cambodia and later abandoned near the frontier. The Burapha Task Force, led by Colonel Chainarong Kasee, commander of Task Force 12 under the Aranyaprathet Task Force, together with Ranger Company 1202, apprehended the group along the border near Ban Phu Nam Kliang in Pa Rai subdistrict. Those arrested included seven Thais, five men and two women, and one Lao national. Officials said the suspects came from several provinces, including Bangkok, and had crossed back into Thailand from Poipet, Cambodia. In initial questioning, all gave similar accounts, saying they had been recruited via social media with offers of high-paying jobs as chat administrators or account renters. They said they were taken to the border by a Thai intermediary before being handed over to Cambodian nationals who transported them into Poipet. Upon arrival, their mobile phones and identification cards were confiscated, and they were forced to undergo facial scans to open multiple online bank accounts. Once those accounts were frozen, the group said they were abandoned near the border and told to make their own way back into Thailand. After the arrests, all eight suspects were handed over to investigators at Khlong Luek Police Station for legal proceedings. Authorities warned the public to be cautious of online job offers promising unusually high pay, saying such schemes may be linked to fraudulent networks and the use of so-called “mule” bank accounts in transnational crime.