Japanese Students Rescued from Myanmar Scam Call Center in Kanchanaburi
Two Japanese university students were rescued after being forced to work for a Chinese‑run scam call center in Myanmar’s Phaya Thong Su area. They had been deceived by a fellow Japanese broker who promised holiday work in Thailand, then trafficked them across the border where they threatened to scam fellow Japanese nationals. Thai police, military units and the Japanese Embassy coordinated their return and are now investigating the broader network.
On October 2, 2069, at the Kanchanaburi Provincial Police Headquarters, Police General Thatchai Pitaneelabutr, together with representatives of the Japanese Embassy in Thailand, Kanchanaburi provincial police, and the Lad Ya Special Task Force of the Surasi Division, took custody of two Japanese male students, aged 20 and 21. The youths had been lured to Thailand with promises of well‑paid holiday work, but after arriving they were transported to Phaya Thong Su in Myanmar, opposite Sangkhla Buri district. There they were held for twenty days and compelled by a Chinese‑headed scam gang to work as call‑center operators, telephoning Japanese residents to steal money under threats of violence against them and their families in Japan. After secretly using a phone from the gang’s leader, the students contacted their families in Japan, who alerted the Japanese Embassy in Myanmar and Thai authorities, leading to their rescue and return to Thailand. The students said that many other Japanese remain trapped in the same scam operation. Thai officials have forwarded the information to the Japanese Embassy for verification and further assistance, while the two youths will undergo screening; if confirmed as victims they will be handed over to Japanese authorities for repatriation and to pursue legal action against the Japanese broker who deceived them. Police General Thatchai later visited the crossing point near the community hall behind the Three Pagodas Temple in Ban Phra Chedi Samong, Soi Phanich 7, Moo 9, Nong Lu subdistrict, Sangkhla Buri, and ordered the provincial police chief and the Sangkhla Buri station chief to increase inspections of foreigners entering the border area to prevent similar incidents.
