As the Philippine government completely bans offshore gambling (POGO) operations, a large number of gambling practitioners and related industry personnel are forced to look for new survival spaces.
As an important country in Southeast Asia, Thailand has become the preferred destination for these "wild" practitioners due to its relatively relaxed legal environment and convenient geographical location.
However, as the number of people and activities increases, the Thai government has also begun to increase its supervision of such illegal activities.
Many who went to Thailand thought they could find a "safe harbor" here, but in fact, the enforcement strength of Thailand and the culture of public reporting have greatly increased the risks of illegal activities. Some people were even caught in a short time, facing deportation or even criminal charges.
There have been many arrests in Thailand recently! Online tracking, offline law enforcement, and even public reporting can get you to the police station for a tea in minutes!
1. Multi-level law enforcement against illegal activities
Thailand has strong law enforcement capabilities in combating cybercrime and illegal gambling. For crime, Thailand has several agencies: including the Royal Thai Police Cybercrime Center (CCIB), the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA), the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), and other departments, jointly combating cyber fraud, illegal capital flows, money laundering, infringement, etc.
In August this year, Thai police, in conjunction with the Anti-Money Laundering Office, cracked a transnational money laundering case. The gang obtained funds through fraud and used digital asset technology to transfer illegal proceeds to multiple digital wallets.
As a result, this Sino-Thai gang was too high-profile, buying luxury houses, luxury cars, and starting companies to engage in real estate, and was caught by a joint operation of the cyber police and the Anti-Money Laundering Office, arresting 21 people.
Another gang used a legitimate business's gambling website as a disguise, attracting users to invest and then freezing and running away with the funds!
They laundered money through bank accounts, virtual currencies, and overseas investments, hiding illegal proceeds in a complex asset network and transferring them to overseas accounts to evade legal pursuit. They were still found by the Anti-Money Laundering Office.
Through judicial assistance, AMLO can also track cross-border capital flows. Even if some criminal networks' assets are hidden in neighboring countries' bank accounts, the funds involved in money laundering activities are likely to be frozen.
For example, a gambling website called "FAFA789" operated through an illegal payment gateway system, using complex money laundering techniques (such as "vest accounts", "shell company accounts", and "money laundering accounts") to conceal the direction of funds and transfer funds in layers, closely related to local organizations in Thailand and gangs in China and Malaysia.
They were still found by the Anti-Money Laundering Office and caught 7 people, issuing 27 arrest warrants.
Offline, the law enforcement of the Royal Thai Police is also unquestionable!
For example, on December 12, the police in Chonburi Province raided a luxury villa in Pattaya, arresting 13 Chinese nationals and 1 Korean national. These people used a travel agency disguise to defraud victims of property, with illegal gains exceeding 10 million Thai baht.
Law enforcement agencies discovered clues through abnormal electricity records and entry and exit behaviors, demonstrating the Thai police's effective response to similar activities.
See? Those who rent villas, if there are extremely high electricity bills, long periods of not going out, and frequent entry and exit of equipment and personnel, will attract police attention. These are very dangerous signals!
PS: Recently, someone in the Lat Phrao district set up a shrimp pond to launder money related to online gambling, and an arrest warrant was also issued.
2. Thai public's enthusiasm for reporting
The reporting culture in Thailand is very developed, and the public is keen to report illegal activities through hotlines. No matter what aspect, as long as the Thai public thinks it's not good, they will report it.
Not giving way to pedestrians on the road, report! Someone littering, report! Someone occupying the road to set up a stall, report! Monk's behavior unchecked, report! Suspected drug dealers found, report! Suspected illegal activities found, report! Even suspected unconstitutional election processes by the president, officials report!
A while ago, a Chinese factory in Chonburi Province was reported by nearby residents. The cause was that the residents found that this Chinese factory only allowed Thais to work as security guards, not other positions. The clever Thai public felt something was wrong, definitely a problem, and immediately reported it.
As a result, it was discovered that the factory employed foreign workers illegally, mainly Chinese workers or workers from neighboring countries, and some illegal workers did not hold legal work permits.
There are also some construction sites, where workers who come to "work" are often reported!
Recently, several cases of telecommunications fraud were also reported and led to arrests!
For example, during a law enforcement operation in the Huay Kwang district of Bangkok, the Thai Immigration Bureau arrested six Chinese citizens, including the alleged mastermind. They were reported.
After receiving the report, the police immediately raided and indeed found a large amount of equipment used for fraud during the search of six apartment rooms on the 16th, 17th, and 23rd floors, including 286 SIM boxes and 208,000 SIM cards.
Poorly, these scammers thought about not staying on one floor, thinking they could hide a bit and divert the police's attention, but in the end, they were still caught!
3. Highly internationalized tracking and collaboration
Thailand strengthens cooperation with multiple countries to combat transnational crime. A while ago, the red notice issued by China attracted high attention from the international community, and the Thai Embassy in China stated to the media on December 15 that Thailand is willing to cooperate with the Chinese government according to the provisions of the China-Thailand extradition treaty and assist in extraditing the relevant suspects back to China. As long as China makes an extradition request, Thailand will actively cooperate.
There is also the "Seagull" joint operation in Southeast Asia, which continues to deepen. Thailand regularly shares intelligence with China, Cambodia, Laos, and other countries and coordinates to launch special operations against telecommunications fraud. They also discussed advancing the investigation of cases and verifying clues.
These international cooperations further compress the space for illegal activities, increasing the exposure risks for "wild" practitioners.
In Thailand, in addition to facing the continuous increase in Thai law enforcement, "wild" practitioners also face safety risks due to internal disputes over spoils or conflicts of interest.
Recently, a Chinese gambling operator in Parañaque City, Philippines, was kidnapped by a gang posing as police, and there has been no news so far, most likely gone. This incident not only exposes the dark side of the gambling industry but also reminds "wild" practitioners that safety in a foreign land is not guaranteed.
In addition, with the increasingly close cooperation between Thailand and other countries and the improvement of cross-border tracking technology, the space and possibility for illegal "wild" activities will further shrink. At the same time, personnel who have been deported may also find it difficult to return to Thailand. Once listed on Thailand's blacklist or China's red notice list, even if applying for other visas, entry may be denied.
For those who want to continue engaging in such activities, the only way out is to completely legalize, and for most of those who have been forced to leave, they face the challenge of readjusting and finding a livelihood after returning to their home country.
If they still want to engage in industry-related activities, they probably just have to wait for Thailand to advance the legalization of gambling. Currently, the government has confirmed that a committee will be established to take responsibility for site selection and determine the number of integrated resorts allowed nationwide, as well as manage these complexes. However, it will take some time before the law is passed and specifically implemented.
Also, according to the 46th ministerial regulation published in the Thai Government Gazette, the Thai government has already regulated that 23 types of gambling can be conducted within specified times.
In Thailand, apart from horse racing and government-allowed lotteries, other gambling activities including casinos are illegal. However, underground casinos, gambling on sports, and other activities are rampant. Underground lotteries, aerial casinos, gambling on fights, and online gambling have long been part of Thailand's informal economy.
From betting funds to dispersing funds to other gray enterprises, according to media estimates, Thailand has become the country with the largest informal economy in the world, valued at 8.7 trillion Thai baht, accounting for 48.4% of Thailand's GDP.
If there is no way to enter legal gambling types, the likelihood is that they will just have to continue "cultivating" in gray enterprises.
