A TEAM of soldiers patrolling the Thai-Cambodian border at Aranyaprathet district, Sa Kaeo province, rounded up a group of eight Thais just as they were walking along a forest path to sneak into Khmer border town Poipet where jobs running gambling websites awaited them, Amarin TV said this evening (Oct. 13).
Of the eight Thais arrested, six men and two women, two of the men were their guides, namely Mr. Kee and Mr. Toe, with none of them having a passport. They came from various provinces including Buriram, Prachinburi and Sa Kaeo itself, and stayed in a small house in Aranyaprathet before being taken to Poipet by the natural route.
They confessed to having been persuaded to work as “online gambling website administrators” for upto 18,000-22,000 baht per month. These websites included WK88, K PRUS 88, Wing 123 and the lottery website Sien Huay 789.
Upon being taken to Klong Luek police station they were charged with leaving the country through illegal channels with investigation to be expanded to prosecute the operators of the online gambling networks who recruited them.
A Thai man named Mr. Mike, 22, told reporters of this TV station that he is searching for his younger sister, Ms. Nong, 18, who had been looking for online work and was either picked up from their home in Saraburi or travelled to meet her recruiter on her own.
Their system is to transfer people they recruit in stages with different drivers and vehicles taking them from one point to another.
It was at around 3 p.m. on Saturday that Nong called to say she was locked in house Aranyaprathet.
When she became aware of the situation, the scammers offered her an unknown amount of money to reassure her that she would be getting the job agreed upon.
She had trusted the scammers because they had transferred money for travel expenses and also roped her into an online group of around 160 people who all displayed their ID cards with large amounts of money also shown.
Upon consulting Aranyaprathet police Mike was told to get help from Thai Overseas Assistance Coordination Centre at this border province.
CAPTION:
The group of Thais who were arrested while crossing over to Cambodia to take up online gambling jobs. Photos – Amarin TV
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