Thailand will study the feasibility of building a wall along part of its border with Cambodia to prevent illegal crossings, government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub said on Monday.
The wall would be part of a multi-national effort to dismantle the sprawling network of call-scam centres based just outside Thailand's borders and whose global victims include large numbers of Thais.
The crackdown on these criminal organisations involved in massive financial fraud, mostly operated by Chinese gangsters based in Cambodia and Myanmar, is being expanded.
Hundreds of thousands of people believing they were going to legitimate jobs have been trafficked by these criminal gangs in recent years and held in virtual slavery, according to the United Nations.
At the weekend, Thai police received 119 Thai nationals from Cambodian authorities after a raid in the Cambodian border town of Poipet rescued at least 215 people held in a scammer's compound.
Mr Jirayu said the possible construction of a wall was one idea discussed at Monday's cabinet meeting. The Foreign and Defence ministries were assigned to hold talks on the matter with Cambodian authorities, he said
"If it is done, how would it be done? What results were likely, would it solve any problems? This all needs to be studied," Mr Jirayu said. He gave no indication how long such a wall might be.
The cabinet discussion followed the prime minister's visit to the border at Khlong Luek checkpoint in Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo province on Friday.
The Cambodian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the wall proposal.
Thailand and Cambodia share a border of 817 kilometres. The Thai Defence Ministry has previously proposed a wall along a 55-kilometre stretch of the border with many natural crossings in the Sa Kaeo-Poipet area. It is currently protected by razor wire.
Phone fraud centres have been operating for years out of Southeast Asia, ensnaring victims in countries as far away as West Africa. They face heightened scrutiny after the rescue in January of Chinese actor Wang Xing, who was lured to Thailand with the promise of a job and then whisked over the border to a scam centre in Myanmar.
In Myanmar's Myawaddy, more than 7,000 foreigners released from shutdown scam centres, the majority from China but also from countries in Africa and elsewhere, are waiting to cross into Mae Sot district in Thailand's Tak province. Thailand is working with foreign embassies to streamline their repatriation to their home countries.
Hundreds remain in limbo in squalid conditions in a militia camp, still struggling to find a way home, according to reports quoting other freed workers.
People's Party deputy leader Rangsiman Rome said last week the crackdown still had a long way to go. He estimated 300,000 people had been involved in scam-gang operations just in Myawaddy, with many more based in other towns.
