Thailand is considering plans to build a border wall with Cambodia to crack down on people being trafficked to work in scam centres.

The country is broadening its efforts to dismantle the centres, where workers target people across the world with online romance and crypto scams, operating close to its borders with Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.

The United Nations estimates that hundreds of thousands of people are trapped inside these compounds, many having been trafficked after applying for legitimate jobs.

In 2023, the UN said the financial losses for people in east and south-east Asia alone were between $18 and $37 billion (£14 and £29 billion). The “scamdemic” has only grown since then.

But Thailand has recently ramped up efforts to both stop criminal gangs from trafficking people through the country, and help repatriate thousands of people stuck inside – including in Cambodia.

At the weekend, a police operation rescued 215 people in a joint raid on Poipet, a “Wild West” town on the border that has long been implicated in the scamming operations.