Thai authorities are working with their counterparts in Cambodia to tackle call centre gangs after a man fell to his death from a building in Poipet believed to be the headquarters of scammers.
A man captured on CCTV falling from the 14th floor of an 18-storey building in Poipet, opposite Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo province, has been identified as Alongkorn Deeying, a resident of Kanchanaburi province.
Pol Lt Gen Trairong Phiwpan, chief of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB), said that police from the CCIB, immigration police and other agencies are working with authorities in Cambodia to investigate the cause of the deadly fall and to seek information about the building.
An initial check found that the man was not the subject of any arrest warrant, but it was still not known what kind of job he did in the building, Pol Lt Gen Trairong said.
"We have to wait for official reports from agencies which are working with their counterparts in the neighbouring country," he said.
"But we have information that some suspects wanted on arrest warrants for public fraud work in another nearby building. These suspects are linked with call centre gangs and online gambling networks," Pol Lt Gen Trairong said.
The 18-storey building is located near a 25-storey building which former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra previously claimed to be the headquarters of a call centre scam gang while he was in Chiang Mai to help campaign for a Pheu Thai candidate in the Provincial Administrative Organisation chief election last month.
On Dec 25, the CCIB confirmed that Thaksin's information was correct, adding that it had contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and countries in the Mekong River region to work together to tackle call centre scammers. According to police sources, the two buildings serve as major operation centres for online gambling, the drugs trade and human trafficking.
"The 18-storey building is where a casino and call centre gangs operate. It is where many Thai workers have been tricked into scam work. There have been several incidents of people falling from the building," the sources said.
Pol Lt Gen Yingyos Thepchamnong, commander of Provincial Police Region 2, said that police have arrested members of a human trafficking gang that smuggled Thai nationals to Cambodia and sent them to work in the 18-storey building.
Chaichana Detdecho, chairman of the House Committee on Police Affairs, earlier said the property is run by a Chinese criminal boss known only as Xiao Ma. The same gang reportedly defrauded Charlotte Austin, one of the runners-up in the Miss Grand Thailand 2022 beauty pageant, out of four million baht.
Pinnapha Deeying, the mother of the man who died after falling from the building, said yesterday she was puzzled by the incident and has called on his colleagues to provide clarity regarding the circumstances of his death.
Alongkorn's death on Tuesday gained public attention after CCTV footage of the fall was shared on Facebook a day later. Speculation suggests that his death may be related to the pressures of working in a scamming operation in Cambodia.
A resident of Nong Prue district in Kanchanaburi, Alongkorn visited his mother in Muang district on Monday night to tell her of his plans to work with some friends in Ratchaburi province for three days -- a conversation that marked their last interaction.
Pinnapha Deeying spoke of her late son yesterday: "I heard what happened to him in the news, but I didn't know how to reach him."