The government has warned of widespread misleading advertising for overseas jobs in which many employees face mistreatment or even jail.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry has been approached by families and relatives of those duped into working overseas seeking help to bring them home, said deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek yesterday.
Most were lured into taking up overseas jobs through online advertisements. However, the work and the pay did not match what had been promised.
Some were forced to work against their will and detained or even tortured at the hands of their employers. Those wanting to quit were told to pay hefty compensation, Ms Rachada said.
The spokeswoman said that the ministry is aware of advertisements seeking good-looking women for work as receptionists in entertainment venues, hotels or casinos with an offer of a high salary, free accommodation, and generous welfare.
The job-seekers were met by Thai brokers who directed them to cross the Sai River into Myanmar from Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai. After that, they travelled to the northern border towns of Myanmar where they were forced to work as prostitutes.
If they refused to serve customers, they would be locked up, beaten or sold to another brothel. The women would need to pay compensation in return for their freedom.
Ms Rachada said parts of northern Myanmar are controlled by minority ethnic groups and are not easily accessible. It is difficult for the authorities to get help to them.
Complaints were also received from Thai job seekers in Cambodia, who said they had been lured by online jobs seeking marketing officers which came with promises of attractive pay and free food and accommodation in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and the border town of Poipet.
However, just to get there, many had to walk across the border from Sa Kaeo into Cambodia, sometimes passing through areas littered with landmines.
Once in Cambodia, they were made to work for call centre gangs preying on people back in Thailand. The callers were told to encourage people to gamble online.
A similar bogus scheme in the Philippines was advertised, claiming to offer up to 50,000 baht a month in salary, excluding overtime, with free travel expenses and accommodation.
Once there, the job-seekers were forced to sign employment contracts and had their passports seized. Their job was to find customers to play online casinos or deceive them into joining investment projects.
They were threatened or sold to other employers if they complained about their work or were unable to meet employment targets.
Even after the group was rescued, they could not return to Thailand right away as they had to face charges in those countries, mostly for illegal entry, or go through the court process, according to Ms Rachada.
Meanwhile, Apinya Sriboonchan, 41, was arrested along with five other Thai women on charges of prostitution and remanded in prison in Ahu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin said.
The minister was asked by the woman's brother, Pasit Sriboonchan, to locate Ms Apinya's whereabouts in Abu Dhabi after he was unable to contact her for many days.
Mr Suchart said the woman had been told she would work as a traditional massage therapist but was tricked into selling sexual services.