SA KAEO: A 14-year-old girl who was rescued from a scam gang in Cambodia said she was ordered to trick at least 100 victims a day or she would be assaulted and not fed.
The account came from the minor who had disappeared from her home in Rayong province last Saturday and was reportedly lured into working for a call-centre gang based near the Cambodia-Vietnam border.
According to sources, Thai police and military coordinated the rescue with their Cambodian counterparts. The girl was reportedly transported for hours from a location near the Cambodia-Vietnam border to the Khlong Luek immigration checkpoint in Sa Kaeo province of Thailand on Wednesday night. She hugged her parents in tears upon the reunion.
The girl, identified only as Mook, told officials that a man had offered her a job in Sa Kaeo. He picked her up at her house but ordered her to keep the job offer secret.
She told officials that she had been ordered to trick at least 100 victims a day; otherwise, she could not eat and would be assaulted.
The rescue comes at a time when while Cambodian, Thai and Myanmar authorities have stepped up attempts to tackle widespread call-centre scams based in the region.
The main impetus for the crackdown has come from China, since most of the scam operators as well as their victims are Chinese.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is preparing to visit the border checkpoint in Sa Kaeo on Friday to discuss the scam centre problem with officials.
The government will not end its drive against scam gangs operating from neighbouring countries ripping off Thais until the problem is eliminated, she said on Tuesday.
