Thailand¡¯s army has recast its deadly clash with Cambodia as a battle against cybercriminals, adding a new motive for bombing runs across the border that it says are aimed at rooting out scammers.
Calling the strikes a ¡°war against the scam army,¡± a military division involved in the border fight said this week it¡¯s on the front line against the global threat of transnational crime syndicates, which operate across neighboring Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
Thailand¡¯s new tone draws together two simmering crises in Southeast Asia: the border war between neighbors that has killed dozens and displaced half a million people and a sprawling scam ecosystem that has swindled billions of dollars primarily in what are referred to as pig-butchering and call-center schemes.
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