# Thailand says 260 scam-center victims are being repatriated from Myanmar

*Event date: 2025-02-13*

Thailand’s army said on 2025-02-13 that about 260 people believed to have been trafficked and trapped in online scam centers in Myanmar were being prepared for repatriation after crossing into Thai custody.

The AP report describes one of the most visible crackdowns yet on the criminal economy that has grown around the Thailand-Myanmar border. The rescued people were sent from Myanmar’s Myawaddy district into Thailand’s Tak province, and the army said they came from 20 nationalities. Among the larger groups were nationals from Ethiopia, Kenya, the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan and China.

The story matters because it shows how large and transnational these scam operations have become. According to AP, the networks have forced hundreds of thousands of people across Southeast Asia and beyond into schemes involving fake romances, fraudulent investments and illegal gambling. The people recruited to run them are often deceived about the job and then held in virtual slavery.

The report also places the rescues in a wider regional crackdown. Earlier efforts in northern Shan state in Myanmar led to the repatriation of an estimated 45,000 Chinese nationals suspected of involvement after Chinese pressure helped push some of the operations shut. The new operation is part of the same larger effort to break up a system that thrives in frontier areas with weak state control.

AP said Thai officials believe a Myanmar ethnic militia, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, may have been involved in freeing the workers and taking them to the border. That detail points to the complicated mix of militias, criminal groups and military weakness that makes the border region so difficult to police.

The Thai army said the rescued people will be questioned to determine whether they are victims of trafficking, after which they would enter protection while waiting to be sent home. Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said Thailand would not set up another shelter and would accept only people whose home countries were ready to take them back immediately.

That position matters because it shows the rescue response is tightly linked to repatriation logistics. Thailand is not simply serving as a holding point. It is trying to manage an international handoff while also collecting evidence that could help investigate the trafficking networks themselves.

The same AP report notes that Thailand has already cut electricity, internet and gas to some border areas in Myanmar in an effort to pressure the scam economy. Whether that strategy works long term remains unclear. What is already clear is that one of Southeast Asia’s most persistent criminal systems is still generating large-scale rescues and a complex diplomatic and humanitarian response.

Claim-to-source map

  • Thailand’s army said about 260 people were being repatriated after rescue from Myanmar: AP (3479)
  • The rescued people came from 20 nationalities and crossed into Tak province from Myawaddy: AP (3479)
  • AP described the broader scam network and prior crackdown on illegal casinos and scams in Myanmar: AP (3479)
  • Thai officials said they would question the rescued people and repatriate them rather than keep a new shelter open: AP (3479)