Thailand's bombing of Cambodian casinos could be putting trafficking victims at risk
By Will Jackson
datePublished":"2025-12-12T04:49:05+00:00

Thailand has reportedly bombed at least five Cambodian casinos and suspected online scamming complexes since fighting erupted again between the neighbouring South-East Asian countries on Monday.

An expert says the attacks could be putting the lives of human trafficking victims at risk and may be considered war crimes.

Footage posted online reportedly shows foreigners fleeing suspected scam compounds following the strikes.

The Thai military claims the sites spanning at least three provinces were being used for military purposes including staging troops, launching drones and storing rockets for BM-21 launchers.

Cambodia has in recent years become a hub for industrial-scale online scamming and human trafficking operations often run out of casino buildings or purpose-built multi-storey compounds.

While the fraud operations, including so-called "pig butchering" scams, were initially mostly based out of the coastal city Sihanoukville, they have since spread out across country.

Many are now reportedly run out of border casinos, which historically catered to gamblers from Thailand and Vietnam where gambling is banned.

Cambodian officials told local media that Thai forces had shelled the O'Smach Casino in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday, killing a security guard and injuring five people including Chinese and Myanmar nationals.

It is not confirmed which of the casinos are being used for scam operations.

However, the US Department of the Treasury last year sanctioned the O'Smach Casino and tycoon owner Ly Yong Phat for "their role in serious human rights abuse related to the treatment of trafficked workers subjected to forced labour in online scam centres".

Dozens of Pakistanis and Nepalis reportedly escaped the casino earlier this year, complaining of unfair work conditions.

The Thai military said it had on Tuesday deployed Saab JAS 39 Gripen aircraft to bomb the nearby Royal Hill Resort, which was identified as a suspected scam centre by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime in May.

Other reported targets included the Sai Taku Resort at Chob Kokir Khang Lich in Oddar Meanchey, a casino in the Thmor Da area of Pursat Province and a casino near the Chong An Ma border crossing in Preah Vihear Province.


Cambodian state media Fresh News published photos of a casino damaged by the Thai military.

Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Asia Center and a senior advisor on transnational crime at Inca Digital, said it was "entirely plausible" that the Cambodian military was using the buildings.

"The Cambodian side is very underdeveloped and these compounds are the most viable military infrastructure along the border," he told the ABC.

"Moreover, the same elite patronage connections which have [provided] their owners [Ly Yong Phat, Try Pheap, etc] state protection for their criminal activities also demands/purchases their loyalty in support of Cambodia's military imperatives.

"Effectively, they are the CPP's [Cambodian People's Party] top patrons in the area and it makes sense that they would be aiding in the cause.

"It's also the case that the global revulsion toward Cambodia's scam industry is a useful reality for Thailand, lending it some cover for extraterritorial aggression."

The Cambodian government has continued to deny links to the scam industry and shut down a number of operations.

Trafficking victims could be trapped in compounds

Mr Sims said there was no guarantee that the casinos had been evacuated and they could still be housing thousands of trafficking victims working for scam operations.

Cambodia's online fraud networks are notorious for luring workers from overseas with offers of legitimate work then forcing them to scam victims in their home and other countries under threat of violence and torture.

Unverified videos posted to social media this week purportedly showed hundreds of foreigners fleeing scam centres in the O'Smach area and walking along roads carrying their belongings.

"Bombing compounds is not a remotely reasonable way to combat the scam industry," Mr Sims said.

"This isn't a topic either government wants to talk about.

"Is Thailand knowingly targeting locations with entrapped civilians? Is Cambodia now using them as human shields? Or, did the scam-invested oligarchs who own the compounds move them … prior to repurposing it for military use?

"These are enormous questions as we could be looking at war crimes on both sides here.

"To be clear, I also don't know the answer to these questions, but they are the ones worth asking."

The ABC has approached the Royal Thai Army for comment.

Conflict useful for both sides

Each side has blamed the other for sparking the new conflict, which has left at least 11 Cambodian civilians dead and 74 wounded according to its government. Thailand has reported nine soldiers have been killed and 120 wounded.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced.

Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced on Thursday that he was "returning power to the people," moving to dissolve parliament and clear the way for elections earlier than previously anticipated.

Mr Sims said that while it would be an oversimplification to say that Thailand was targeting the scam industry, it was still a pivotal factor in the conflict.

"It gives Thailand a pretext to be aggressive — which consolidates nationalistic sentiment around the government," he said.

"By the same measure, it is a useful distraction for a Cambodian regime now dogged internationally by the overwhelming evidence of its direct role cultivating and protecting the industry."

The earlier five-day border conflict in July was the deadliest in decades and ended following intervention by US President Donald Trump.

It came shortly after the Thai authorities began taking action against alleged scam operations, including seizing 19 properties linked to Cambodian senator Kok An.

Mr Sims pointed out that the current conflict restarted days after Thailand took further action against Kok An and several other high profile figures allegedly involved in Cambodia's scam industry.

He said there was now an established pattern of Thailand taking action against Cambodia's "scam-invested oligarchs" followed by Cambodia escalating tensions with Thailand then issuing "a punishing, over the top military response".

"I view it as absolutely no coincidence that this flare up comes less than five days after Thailand seized $[US]300 million from [tycoons] Kok An, Lim Yeak, and Chen Zhi.

"The CPP is feeling real pain from this and also sensing a larger strategic vulnerability to their political economic model.

"The regime is sustaining its grip on power on the back of a predatory industry that targets the exact countries where it is storing its wealth.

"What happens if Indonesia starts seizing oligarch assets, or Malaysia, or Australia?"

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-12/thai...ntres/106125824

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let them fight, thai bomb cambodian casino, cambodian bomb thai drug center

bomb blindly meh? later all the victims die together, escalate to bigger war

i wonder why china not retaliate yet, they invested so much in scam center there, maybe china too busy dealing with Japan now

hmmm... that Naga casino...

wait lar ... cambodia will send their airforce soon

they were already at risk lmao, macamlah before this the trafficked victims were on holiday n safe in the building


bombing the buildings opens a way for them to escape.

in war, civilian casualty is unavoidable, just go ahead and bomb the place flat

kasi bomb jer those ccp scammer

China invested so much in scam centers there? You probably expect everyone here in kopitiam to be idiots.

all scam centers there run by chinese national... scamming money worldwide, part of their GDP

please bomb more. those scammers scare of nothing, only losing their own lives from the bombs of freedom and democracy. if they know they have no where to hide, then they will stop building physical scam centers, probably move to online cloud scam centers.

I think hun sen earn too much from scam until his head big big dare to play with thai elites yingluck thaksin clan. now kenna already lah.

This post has been edited by Penamer: Dec 12 2025, 03:12 PM

The great example of cronies interest defended with the people's lives and country's resources

I dont think PRC is involved. Some of their agent was killed by these Chinese scammer.

But for sure I believe they could have done much more to stop all this

Was something of value lost?

Woi
I still waiting reply from the 20k salary do nothing job over there leh

And so according to your ultra idiotic logic, whatever Chinese nationals invest in, belongs to the People's Republic of China? If that's the case, why China gov have often asked Cambodia to close down these scam centers?

very small bomb. I thought it's like this:

the problem with u is that, u tink u r smart,

china crack some scam center which not follow their instruction but 99% still remain running full force

china as world superpower could have wipe them out easily