Thailand cuts power supplies to Myanmar border towns in effort to curb scam rings

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand on Wednesday cut off power supplies to areas in Myanmar where scam networks operate, following a public outcry demanding government action to tackle the problem.

Parts of Myanmar bordering Thailand, including Myawaddy and Tachilek, are known as havens for criminal syndicates who have forced hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia and elsewhere into helping run online scams including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.

Such scams have stolen tens of billions of dollars from victims around the world, while the people recruited to carry them out are often tricked into taking the jobs under false pretense and trapped in virtual slavery.

Thailand’s National Security Council and other government agencies met on Tuesday and agreed to cut off electricity, internet and gas supplies to five towns in Myanmar along the border with northern Thailand, citing national security and severe damage that the country has suffered from scam operations.

Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who oversaw the process at the Bangkok headquarters of the Provincial Electricity Authority, said the annual revenue from the electricity sold in these areas was about 600 million baht ($17.8 million). Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said Tuesday that scams have caused an estimated damage of 80 million baht ($2.3 million) to Thailand a day.

Anutin, who also serves as a deputy prime minister, said a clause in the supply contract allows Thailand to cut off the supply on the grounds of national security. “Today, the government said we must stop, because you supply our electricity to those who cause damage to our country,” he said.

Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have became known