Sa Kaeo – A 19-year-old man escaped the “scammer hell” by swimming across a canal back to Thailand. He confessed to being tricked into a side job via TikTok before being sold to a gray Chinese scammer gang, living for 3 years in Poipet without being able to return to Thailand.
On 31 July 2026, reporters reported another cautionary tale about online job hunting when a 19-year-old Thai man decided to swim across the canal along the Thailand-Cambodia border to escape from a scammer gang network. He had been tricked into a side job through TikTok before being sold to a Chinese company and forced to work in Poipet for over 3 years.
This morning, Burapha Forces, led by the Aranyaprathet Task Force, intelligence unit of Burapha Task Force, and Ranger Company 1203 jointly conducted surveillance near a natural crossing at Ban Wang Mon, Tha Kham Subdistrict, Aranyaprathet District, Sa Kaeo Province. After receiving reports of illegal border crossings, they found a Thai man walking along the border and stopped to check him before taking him into custody without a guide.
During interrogation, the young man said that 3 years ago he applied for a job via TikTok. Someone contacted him to work as a chat admin with a salary of 20,000 baht. He was picked up from his home in Chonburi Province and brought to Aranyaprathet District. Then, Cambodians smuggled him across the border to Poipet. Upon arrival, he was sold to a Chinese company and forced to work in a scammer network, unable to return to Thailand.
Recently, when Cambodian authorities launched a crackdown on call center gangs causing the Chinese boss to flee with the money, he seized the chance to escape by swimming across the canal back to Thai territory and walking along a natural path hoping to return to his family. However, before reaching home, he was caught by rangers and taken to Khlong Luek Police Station for legal processing. Authorities are expanding investigations into broker networks using social media to lure Thais into illegal work abroad.
This incident highlights that “high-paying jobs” advertised on social media may be traps set by human trafficking rings and transnational call center gangs, which continue to deceive Thais. This issue is under close scrutiny by multiple parties.