As the Poipet area in Cambodia has recently been severely cracked down on, coupled with the Thai government's announcement to build a border wall in Poipet to curb telecommunications fraud activities, the previously active "Pan Zong" and practitioners are quietly moving to more remote border ports.
According to local residents, the O'Bei port, just tens of kilometers from Poipet, has recently seen a surge in Chinese restaurants, and the main clientele of these shops seems to be not tourists, but new businessmen who come with the shift of the telecom fraud and gambling industries.
Moreover, as these practitioners move, the related industrial chain also moves with them. Housing rentals, travel agencies, and even financial service institutions have quickly formed a gray industrial support chain in multiple areas along the Cambodian-Thai border, facilitating these illegal activities.
A local Chinese restaurant owner revealed that some telecom fraud groups have already started processing passports of small countries through specific channels to evade transnational law enforcement and enhance mobility. "There are specialists responsible for helping 'online betting' personnel to handle passports, allowing them to move across borders more freely," the person said.
Currently, the security situation on the Cambodia-Thailand border continues to evolve. The Thai side has strengthened border control in an attempt to block the spread of the illegal industrial chain. In Cambodia, although Poipet has been strongly rectified, the trend of telecom fraud and gambling groups moving is still worrying.
