Digital Economy Minister credits border checkpoint restrictions with significant drop in online crime and scam reports. PATTAYA, Thailand – Prasert Chantraruangthong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Economy and Society, held a press conference to update progress on the decline in online crime statistics following the implementation of restricted opening hours at the Thailand-Cambodia border checkpoints. Prasert explained that Cambodia has recently been under scrutiny as the largest hub for transnational cybercrime in the world. Behind the online scam networks exploiting human trafficking labor is a systematic enabling environment supported by state structures and high-level ruling classes. A detailed report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) explicitly described groups of transnational criminals involved in cybercrime, online fraud, and call center scams. The report also mapped the scam operation bases located along the Cambodia-Thailand border, particularly Poipet city, which sits opposite Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo province. This area is a strategic hotspot for scam networks, generating approximately 80% of Cambodia’s income from these illicit activities. Prasert stated that as the Digital Economy Minister, he has continuously worked to halt cybercrime and online fraud in all forms. According to monthly reports from June 2025, online crime complaints decreased from approximately 1,300 cases during the period when border checkpoints were intermittently opened and closed. Specifically, on June 7, 2025, after the border was closed, complaints immediately dropped to 900 cases on June 8, 2025. Although there were some fluctuations later, the numbers remained lower than before the closures, and continued to decrease following orders prohibiting Thai nationals from working in Cambodia. Looking back to the period from March 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023, there were 229,923 reported online scam cases, causing damages totaling 34.5 billion baht. After the launch of the “Technology Crime Prevention and Suppression Operations Center (AOC 1441)” on November 1, 2023, from March 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, over 1.18 million cases were handled, and more than 521,915 fake accounts (“mule accounts”) were suspended. This effort has helped prevent losses of over 19.9 billion baht, reducing damages by more than 42.14%. Most recently, from November 1, 2023, to May 31, 2025, the AOC 1441 hotline received 1,769,958 calls, leading to the suspension of 686,515 scam-related accounts and verified damages totaling 29.75 billion baht. From these data, it is clear that measures such as border closures, power cuts, and internet shutdowns have significantly reduced transnational crime, cybercrime, and online scams, especially call center gangs. In particular: Scam calls through mobile networks to defraud the public have disappeared entirely.   Money withdrawals via mule accounts used to move funds overseas have decreased, thanks to links with banking and financial institutions requiring facial scans, making money transfers more difficult and allowing victims to recover their funds. Although these measures have caused some inconvenience to citizens, the overall impact has been a substantial reduction in financial losses. Mr. Prasert urged the public to unite and serve as a central hub in combating transnational crime, cybercrime, and online fraud to protect the nation’s and people’s interests. He concluded by saying the government will accelerate enforcement under the Technology Crime Prevention Act, including managing mule accounts, tightening registration controls of caller IDs (“Sender Names”), intensifying telecom service suspensions, establishing ministerial regulations and operational guidelines for the Technology Crime Operations Center, developing centralized platforms and databases, strengthening international cooperation, supporting victims, raising public awareness, controlling borders and natural entry points, and introducing many additional measures in the near future.