Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has urged communities in Myanmar to support efforts to crack down on call-center scammers along the border, saying Thailand will resume the supply of power and internet to the neighboring country once criminal networks are rooted out of the areas concerned.
Thaksin said Myanmar has been plagued with armed conflict and ethnic tensions, and part of the funding for some rebel groups comes from call-center gangs and drug trafficking networks.
“The problem will not end unless its root cause is tackled,” Thaksin said, referring to call-center scam gangs operating in Myanmar near the Thai border.
“Communities [in Myanmar] must realize they should no longer support those call-center scam gangs.
“If the scammers are booted out of the country, we will resume the supply of electricity and internet signals,” said Thaksin, who is widely believed to be a de facto leader of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, led by his daughter Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Commenting on Myanmar’s plan to buy electricity from Laos following the power cuts from Thailand, Thaksin said fuel supplies to Myanmar were suspended to prevent electricity generation there.
He also said he had information that a major call center scam gang was also operating from the 25th floor of a building in Cambodia’s Poipet city, which borders Sa Kaeo province.
“We have to seek cooperation from Cambodia,” he said.
“We know who is the owner of the building. He also holds Thai nationality. When the time comes, his Thai nationality will be revoked,” Thaksin said, without elaborating.
On Wednesday, Thailand cut electricity, internet services and fuel supplies to five border areas in Myanmar where suspected fraud centers are located.
In response, Myanmar is now seeking to purchase power from Laos.
The move followed a National Security Council (NSC) meeting last Tuesday, where the council deemed the measure necessary due to the widespread impact of these criminal activities, which affect not only Thailand but also other nations.
The government has classified scam centers as a “national security issue”.
These operations, which have proliferated along the Myanmar-Thailand border, are run by criminal gangs and staffed by trafficked foreign workers who are coerced into defrauding their compatriots.
Paetongtarn, meanwhile, said on Sunday the government is now assessing the impact of the suspension of electricity supplies to Myanmar.
She said the move is intended to cripple scam call centers operating in the neighboring country.
She also brushed aside protests in Myanmar by locals affected by the power cuts, saying protecting the interest of Thailand and Thais is a government priority.
On Saturday, more than 100 protesters, primarily from Myawaddy in Karen State, assembled in front of Myawaddy Hospital before marching towards the first and second Thai-Myanmar Friendship bridges, aiming to disrupt commerce.
They turned back after some time. No violence was reported.
This story first appeared in the Bangkok Post.
