Sizing up the scammers

Police adopt new tools to sort border scam victims from perpetrators, writes Wassayos Ngamkham

- WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM

The new anti-trafficking chief at the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) says he is ready to step up the fight against scammers and smugglers operating along the border, to improve the country’s position on the United States’ human trafficking watchlist.

The newly appointed chief of the CIB’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD)), Pol Maj Gen Songklod Krirk-kitaya, said the government’s crackdown on scam syndicates has yielded positive results.

Thousands of people from all over the world have been rescued from companies controlled by criminals who had lured them with false promises of a legitimate job in Thailand.

The main focus now, he said, is distinguishing between the real victims and suspects who are claiming to be victims in an effort to avoid criminal prosecution.

As such, the ATPD, for instance, has come up with a new method to help authorities discern which of those rescued were actually victims of the criminal syndicates.

Now, both Thais and foreign nationals rescued from scam compounds across borders will be subjected to a 74-question interview designed to weed out the criminals among the suspects.