As cybercrime syndicates seek to expand operations across Southeast Asia, Thailand has emerged as a crucial partner in United States-led efforts to dismantle transnational online fraud networks and the human trafficking rings that fuel them. Bolstered by intensified intelligence sharing, coordinated law enforcement action and growing diplomatic consensus, the two nations are increasingly viewed as a model for Indo-Pacific cooperation against this evolving threat.
The scams are centered in compounds in the border areas of three of the four countries neighboring Thailand, Jason G. Tower, a senior expert at the Switzerland-based Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, told FORUM. “Thailand’s neighbors — Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia — represent the epicenter of Southeast Asia’s online scam crisis,” he said. “Given the lack of political will and/or capacity of these three countries to crack down, the best prospects addressing the crisis are through Thailand.”
Criminal groups, especially China-linked syndicates, have entrenched themselves along the Thai border under the protection of local militias and political patrons, Tower said. In Myanmar, for example, alliances between Chinese crime groups and the military junta have fueled the rise of “scam cities.”
Despite the complexity of the challenge, Thai-U.S. cooperation is yielding results. A 2023 joint operation led to the seizure of millions of dollars stolen from victims in the U.S. state of California who were targeted by fraudsters operating from Myanmar’s eastern border, Tower said. Thai law enforcement later raided an office in Bangkok linked to a network established by Wan Kuok‑koi, also known as Broken Tooth, the leader of one of China’s largest crime triads. The operation cloaked large-scale illicit gaming, fraud and money laundering under the guise of cultural activities.
“We have subsequently seen growing cooperation between the U.S. and Thailand on these issues,” Tower said.
With Southeast Asia-based scams stealing an estimated $10 billion in the U.S. alone in 2024, Allies and Partners have expanded countermeasures including sanctions and multi-agency task forces.
The United Kingdom and the U.S. collaborated in October 2025 on sanctions against the Cambodia-based Prince Group. Analysts said the moves froze the transnational criminal organization’s offshore accounts and seized billions in cryptocurrency and millions in U.K. real estate.
“Through a combination of assertive legislative, diplomatic, and enforcement initiatives, Washington and its partners are beginning to name and target not merely the symptoms of Southeast Asia’s scamming crisis but also the architecture of elite criminal power that sustains it,” Jacob Sims, a fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center, wrote for The Diplomat magazine.
Meanwhile, Thailand has launched the Anti-Online Scam Operation Center and bolstered military-police cooperation, while new legislation enhances cybercrime enforcement.
Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry welcomed recent U.S. sanctions on entities operating from Cambodia and Myanmar, stating the measures “fully align with Thailand’s ongoing efforts” to combat scams, human trafficking and money laundering. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has prioritized intelligence sharing and border security, while the Justice Ministry plans to establish a cyber fraud agency and adopt digital tracking for illicit financial transactions.
Such measures mirror a regional drive. Multilateral entities such as the United Nations and Interpol are stepping up involvement, along with Indo-Pacific nations, Chandara Samban, a research analyst at the London-based Euromonitor International, told FORUM. South Korea, for example, has pledged cooperation with the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and launched a task force with Cambodia.
“Only with active intervention from major powers — including the United States, South Korea and China — have we seen significant crackdowns on technological crimes,” Samban said. “Many local police officials lack the technological skills or motivation to pursue sophisticated cybercriminals.”
Sustained Thai-U.S. collaboration offers a path forward, according to analysts and officials. “We are committed to further enhancing cooperation with the United States, as part of our longstanding security cooperation, as well as other partner countries and relevant international organizations to expeditiously address this serious crime in an effective manner,” Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry stated in October 2025.