Chinese in call scams head home from Thursday

Multinational victims of scam centers, who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, travel on army trucks after they were sent to Thailand, in Phop Phra District, Tak province, Thailand February 12, 2025. (Reuters photo)
Global victims of fraud centers, who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, go on military trucks after they were sent to Thailand, in Phop Phra District, Tak state, Thailand February 12, 2025. ( Reuters photo )

According to the government of Tak state, local authorities will start receiving members of Taiwanese call center scam networks on Thursday for legal proceedings in China.

On Wednesday, Chucheep Pongchai shared an update on preparations to support foreign nationals who had just been rescued from a call center scam operation in Myawaddy, in the Karen state of Myanmar.

He claimed that Beijing has confirmed that it will start repatriating Chinese patients from Thursday through Saturday.

The procedure may proceed in the same manner as it was done for relocation.

According to method, Chinese authorities will conduct the screening and classification of Chinese people as either victims or offenders and handle the entire operation on the Myanmar side by themselves.

The Chinese citizens will be taken to Mae Sot Airport where they will soon board flights to China once they have been screened via the Next Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge.

They will not undergo Thailand’s national referral mechanism ( NRM ) screening but only the biometric verification process, which will take about 2 to 5 minutes per person, Mr Chucheep said.

Now, of the 260 people from 20 countries who were recently rescued from call center fraud operations in Myanmar, 258 have been identified as people smuggling victims. Two Chinese nationals were never identified as subjects.

Several offices have been coordinating to return their citizens, with 25 individuals now sent back to their home countries, the government added.

He claimed that up to 500 patients could be accommodated daily at the 31st Defense Group. Authorities have assembled personnel to help and assist the victims.

The National Security Office will be the main force in preventing online scams, with the Tak municipal company, the Provincial Social Development and Human Security Office, immigration officers, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs acting as the main force behind the relocation of telephone fraud survivors in Myanmar, according to a resource.

The repatriation of all the individuals may take several weeks, according to the source.

Thailand is in talks with foreign organizations for financial assistance in case it needs to account the NRM process, according to the cause.

Since the federal stopped exposure to the border region of Myanmar on February 5 through the use of power and the internet, according to Col Natthakorn Rueantip, captain of the Ratchamanoo Special Task Force based in Mae Sot.