Thai consulate moves to reassure tourists amid HKers' scam factory saga

Thailand's consulate general in Hong Kong has given the assurance that their country is a safe destination for global visitors after 12 Hongkongers were lured to fraud factories in its neighboring countries by job scams.

The consulate said in a statement on Wednesday that all of the Hong Kong victims were misled by scammers to travel to Thailand but ended up being escorted across the border to scam centers.

“The Royal Thai Consulate-General understands that the incident has raised concern about the safety among Hong Kong travelers as trafficking and scamming operations use Thailand as a transit point to carry out illegal activities across its border with neighboring countries,” it said.

“However, we would like to assure that Thailand remains a safe destination for all international visitors since none of the victims are tourists or being abducted on the street.”

It added that senior officials from Thailand had met with their Chinese and Myanmar counterparts in Kunming, China, on Tuesday (Jan 21) and reached a positive consensus on eradicating the scam centers in Myanmar.

The consulate-general has also put up a warning banner to remind Hongkongers seeking jobs in Thailand to contact them for verification.

The consulate also said Thai authorities have launched a series of measures to tackle human trafficking and protect tourists’ safety, including addressing fake news reports and misinformation on social media on the job scams, ensuring sufficient tourist police in at-risk areas and launching a mobile application to provide information available in six languages for tourists.

The Thai government also deployed both military and police forces along the country's eastern and western border across 14 provinces, where warning signs have been put up and individuals will be asked about their purpose and plan of traveling to the border area.

(Ayra Wang)