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

pity those victim that got trafficked to scambodia

Nuke the scambodia!

This is the best time for China to force Cambodia close down all scam centers by denying further weapon sale to Cambodia.

isn't this our wish? Khàawp-khun Thailand.

anyone noticed a reduction in scam calls?

Good bomb all scambodia casino. Build new casino resort in Thailand 🤝

i agree with some ktards here that china is not doing enough to eliminate these scam centers, they have been mushrooming all over cambodia and myanmar now, the scam centers were allowed to flourish from early this year until last month when the myanmar military finally took action to destroy a few scam centers in Myawaddy region, but they only destroyed like 4 or 5 scam parks while there are currently at least 30+ scam parks in Myawaddy itself
and why suddenly myanmar and china took action last month? because USA side suddenly sanctioned the militia group DKBA that is running to these scam parks and USA sent a task force team to thailand to monitor these scam parks

and right after the USA task force team arrived in thailand, now we see a real airstrike attack by a F16 jet on a few of these scam parks in cambodia already, for the past 3 to 4 years we never seen a single airstrike on those scam parks by PRC or the other 3 countries(myanmar, cambodia, laos) that promise to destroy these scam parks for so many years already, PRC is like talk only no action, no real action taken to destroy those scam parks

and dont say the airstrikes on those scam parks is useless or they will kill alot of piggies inside, there is like 2 or 3 scam parks right now in cambodia that were destroyed by thailand airstrikes and they have to release all the piggies inside because their fences were destroyed, guads were killed, tens of thousands of poeple freed already from those scam parks that were destroyed by airstrikes

so now we see real military action taken by thailand/USA side instead of the paper tiger PRC only know how to talk talk talk but no real action lol

But always kecam USA very pandai.

CCP is just like DAP. Before taking power, very pandai to guling2 jalan and make a big fuss about corruption. After they overthrow the gomen, and they themselves take power, then you see their true colors.



This post has been edited by Hobbez: Dec 12 2025, 03:40 PM

Oh, they will. Probably by cancelling or putting in crazy clauses in their current or future trade contracts.

Most country have scammer, but in Cambodia the scammer have a country.

The Myanmar military was forced to take action against Myawaddy scammers after the China got fed-up when a few of its undercover policemen were killed in northern Myanmar by scammers. China gave support to the Three Brotherhood Alliance to conquer the Kokang region, defeating the Myanmar military. The Three Brotherhood Alliance agreed to close down the scam centers in Northern Myanmar and handled over scam leaders to China, which were then executed. Myanmar military got the message already - don't want to close down the scam centers, China will support the anti-Myanmar junta groups against them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_1027

u seems to not know what is happening lol, the northern myanmar operation 1027 was in year 2023, and it was done by rebel forces supported by PRC

the raid on KK park, shwe kokko, shunde park etc in Myawaddy was raided last month by the myanmar military, please dont confuse north myanmar with myawaddy region, they are different regions

the scam victims working for scammer will eventually die. No difference if thai bomb it at least some got chance to flee.

this, those scam victims everyday dreaming for these airstrikes to happen so that they have a chance to escape lol

anyway those airstrike bombs mainly target the fence perimeter around the scam park, they wont directly target the buildings in the scam parks, once the fences were destroyed, those victims can then escape the scam parks

Of course they are different regions. Myanmar military learned the northern Myanmar lesson already, that's why they targeted the notorious Myawaddy scam centers which are controlled by another rebel group, Karen National Army, also known as the Border Guard Forces. The KNA which have been shielding the scammers was forced to take action themselves by joining forces with the Myanmar military to destroy the buildings there or else the Myanmar military will take action against them by attacking the region.

Is the Malaysian owned Casino still intact ?

It's funny that Thailand is in this situation because Thailand itself is not suci-murni in the scam business over in Cambodia and Myanmar. Lots of money are laundered in Thailand and many Thai politicians are believed to be involved.

habiz the northern states

if u say like this, then why there is no destroying of other scam parks by the myanmar military after the operation 1027?

operation 1027 happened in october 2023, and raid in myawaddy happened last month in november 2025, so what happened between october 2023 to november 2025? more than 2 years then only take action on Myawaddy scam parks? myanmar military took 2 years+ to "learn their lesson"?? hahaha, dont give excuses la

its so obvious that PRC's approach is not working and instead it helped those scam parks become bigger and expand, from october 2023 until november 2025 the scam parks grew to 30+ in myawaddy, scammers there grew to more than 500k scammers
and in cambodia there are as many as 50+ scam parks and also more than 500k scammers, the problem is not going away but become bigger and bigger due to PRC's "friendly" approach

everytime there is news of scam victims kena killed or tortured, PRC will just send an envoy to myanmar/cambodia/laos to warn them to go destroy those scam parka, yes just a "friendly" warning
its like oh myawaddy got a new big scam park, then PRC send envoy to myanmar gov or the Karen BGF, "hey you must destroy this scam park ya its causing alot of scams and death to our people"

but will this work? its like lets say now police go to kongsi gelap boss and warn them to stop their illegal activities and crimes but without making any arrests, u think the kongsi gelap will suddenly stop all their crimes? hahahha
same for these scam parks, u think the Karen BGF and myanmar military will seriously destroy these scam parks? its earning them alot of money you know? and few days ago baru got ppl posted in this forum that cambodia's economy now is mostly reliant on these scam parks and their illegal revenues and cambodia will bankrap if these scam parks were fully destroyed
so u say la, will Hun Sen himself go shut down this money printing after getting PRC's warning to destroy them? or will he continue running it until a real military threat comes in? lol

like it or not there is currently no scam parks in thailand, none of them, all of them are in myanmar, cambodia, laos

i still received call from scammer, you bomb wrong location

1% as usual destroying SEA and their neighbors with their all sort of illegal activities. Drugs, online gambling, scams, smuggling, human trafficking, all they conquer as long as they're rich.

And yet we have ktards that plotek these guys. And when we go kutuk their entitlement suddenly we are painted as racist.

Where do you think the rebel groups and even the Myanmar military got their weapons from? China is a supplier of weapons to both. China doesn't want the Myanmar military to fall because it has heavy investments there. If China supplies unlimited weapons to the rebel groups, the Myanmar military will be defeated and that it is not in its interest. But if the Myanmar military doesn't want to take action against the scam centers, then China will supply more weapons to the rebels and at the same time, reduce weapons to the Myanmar military. What choices do you think the Myanmar military have? At the same time, China have brokered ceasefires between rebel groups and the Myanmar military. China can be the broker because it has leverage as their weapons supplier.

good

pls bomb the fuck out of scambodia and their CCPigs bosses

this is basically human at work

bomb = cakap at risk
not bomb = complain human trafficking, torture, murder, forced labor, why nobody is taking any action

I saw video amoi kena lauk by BBC african while prc host & do live stream

Duno isit kena scam or trafficked or ahlong debt ...either way just enjoice je la..but pity the amoi..this world is so dark so much things happening

U all shud b bersyukur la

After this , scam calls should be reduced tremendously...

your neighbour both fight
you won't interfere? or stop?
just wondering..........cos it'd very trending now to do precisely NOTHING
MYOB

Wow they know got human trafficking going on yet nobody doing anything? Coz no oil, gold, diamond to liberate?

Did not see that but can imagine the only fate those amoi kena traffic to scambodia is to kena rape by them
is a living hell for them

4-10 days ago got many many scammer call me, these 2 days like not even one.

dont need to give excuse say what supply weapon to both or scared which side collapse then myanmar become chaotic etc, if PRC really want to take real action then send in special forces or army themselves and take military action themselves instead of giving lame excuses like supply weapon to both sides etc LOL, be like thailand, terus kasi airstrike those scam parks

and what about cambodia? did cambodia have any of these rebel groups nonsense? no right? so what real action have PRC taken to destroy the 50+ scam parks in cambodia? other than giving countless warnings to Hun Sen
let me tell u la, i have been following these scam park news for years already and not just reading from wikipedia LOL
and this is what happens in cambodia for the past few years, every time PRC side found out there are new scam parks in cambodia with alot of victims seeking help inside, they will tell the cambodian side about it, and cambodian side promise to go raid the scam parks,
but the cambodian side will first warn the scam park bosses about it, and guess what? the scam park bosses quickly ran away with all the scammer piggies la, thousands of scam piggies ran away together with their bosses, but they purposely leave like 100 to 200 scam piggies there to let the cambodian police catch them so that the cambodian side got some results to show to china, hey we did raid the scam parks and found only 100 ppl inside hahahaha, in the end they only caught like 5% or less of the total scammer piggies

and then u know what? the scam bosses and thousands of scammer piggies escaped to another building and build a new scam park there, repeat this by 99999x and that is why cambodia's scam parks will never be fully eradicated and their scam parks grew from 100k ppl 4,5 years ago to more than 500k ppl now and from 10+ scam parks now become 50+ and still expanding

and its not until the airstrike by thailand into one of the scam park in Osmach in cambodia on tuesday and we finally for the first time see a scam park in cambodia got fully destroyed and all of the piggies inside escaped the scam park

No wonder so many scam calls , everyone OT before bomb drops

Support tomyam on this.

They also expand their territory border , hope the war end & not prolong for years like Ukraine and drone warfare kicking in full force

Thailand doing God's work

Drop more bros

That is disgusting.

Maybe for your scammer at the hotel,bomb right location. My scammer center still keep calling me

What do you mean by 'Kena lauk'?

Malaysians Lost A Mind-Boggling RM11.2 Billion To Scammers In Just 5 Years

Malaysia’s top commercial crime cop just dropped some seriously scary numbers about how much money sneaky scammers have been swiping from unsuspecting victims.

Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Director, Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf, said during a press conference that Malaysians lost an eye-watering RM11.23 billion to various scams over the past five years.

sos:
https://www.therakyatpost.com/news/malaysia...n-just-5-years/