Thailand and Cambodia are stepping up cooperation efforts to suppress cross-border online scams.
Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn said he met Cambodia's Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Chea Vandet via video conference to strengthen a crackdown on deceptive call centres and investment scams which have caused losses in both countries.
Four measures were agreed: setting up contact points for authorities of both countries to track down suspects; information-sharing regarding voice over internet protocol (VOIP), IP addresses and contact records of suspects; establishing suppression teams within both countries; and issuing memorandums of understanding (MoUs).
Mr Chaiwut said the move follows a meeting with Sok Sokrethya, personal adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in August last year that dealt with cross-border scams.
From June last year, the Police Cyber Taskforce began receiving complaints from victims defrauded by call centre and investment scams as well as online gambling schemes, with losses amounting to hundreds of millions of baht, he said.
He said some scammers contacted victims using VOIP, allowing the police to track their IP addresses.
Transaction locations were traced to Cambodia's Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, where money was laundered by exchanging it for physical and digital currency.
Unfortunately, such crime is on the increase, he said. The countries are also attempting to crack down on fake news creators.
Some suspects from Cambodia have entered Thailand illegally to post criticisms of the Cambodian government, he said.