After power cuts to scam factories, Malaysians ask for more to be done to get family home

A week after Thailand cut power to several Myanmar towns hosting scam compounds, the families of Malaysians still trapped inside have urged the kingdom to turn up the pressure on the cyber fraud bosses to force them to release relatives tricked into scamming.

Gathered outside the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, dozens of family members called on Bangkok to work with its Southeast Asian neighbours to smash the job scam syndicates that have lured tens of thousands of people – most of them against their will – into online fraud.

Thailand last week cut electricity, internet access and oil supplies to five areas in Myanmar suspected of hosting cyber scam operations, under pressure from China.

The crackdown followed the high-profile rescue of a Chinese actor, who said he was tricked into travelling to Thailand only to be whisked against his will across the border into a scam compound in Myanmar’s Myawaddy area.

More than 250 people rescued from the online scam centres in Myanmar were handed over to Thailand on Wednesday, Thai officials said.

  

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