Beneath the Border: Scam Centers and the Thailand–Cambodia Conflict

Why Emerald Triangle scam hubs matter more than most headlines suggest.

A makeshift refugee camp in Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey Province. Image source

Up until only a few months ago, the disputed stretch between Thailand and Cambodia was a quiet landscape of temples visited by people from both sides of the border. In the summer months, this region—known as the Emerald Triangle for its dense forests—can feel like it’s baking in the mid‑40s Celsius, the heat broken only by heavy rains that sometimes clear into spectacular golden sunsets under flamingo pink skies. The ancient sites—and the communities that sustain them—reflect a shared lineage: both peoples trace their roots to the Khmer Empire, once centered near today’s Angkor Wat, until the Sukhothai ancestors of the modern Thai state broke away in the mid‑13th century.

The heart of the border dispute lies in boundaries drawn during the French colonial era, when early 20th‑century treaties fixed a rigid line across what had long been a fluid cultural frontier. The region has since known intense war and instability, albeit previously unrelated to this haphazard border demarcation. From 1967 through 1998, Cambodia endured a brutal civil war that drew in both regional and global powers, leaving its territory among the most heavily land mined on earth. On July 23, one of those remnants maimed five Thai soldiers, prompting shutdowns of both countries’ embassies.

Nevertheless, until only a few weeks ago, the borderlands had settled into a decades-long calm, with people from both sides enjoying picnics at temple sites. According to official reports, Thai soldiers became agitated when Cambodians sang their national anthem at one of these sites, and that’s around when the violence intensified. Nobody seems to have wanted this war, and if you watch accounts like Preston Stewart’s, the Cambodian troops were so unprepared that many are fighting in t‑shirts and flip‑flops.

Recent headlines have been dominated by deadly clashes along the disputed border. Most of those killed have been civilians, with both militaries blaming each other for targeting innocents. Thus far, clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops along the two countries’ disputed border have killed at least 14 people and displaced 120,000 others.

Like most things in Southeast Asia these days, there’s much beneath the headlines. Along this stretch of frontier, Chinese-run scam centers and the illicit capital they generate form part of the conflict’s backdrop—and while it’s too early to call them the driving force, their weight is too significant to ignore.

This piece will unpack that dimension and explain how illicit economies intersect with the border tensions in ways most coverage has missed.

A little context

I knew something was off when Thai authorities suspended the leadership of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest in the country’s history and only the second woman to hold the post, over a call with former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. In the leaked conversation, Paetongtarn addressed Hun as “uncle,” offered to “take care of anything you need,” and described Thailand’s top general as “opposing” and out of step with the nation’s interest—remarks that ignited accusations of compromising sovereignty and deference to Cambodian influence. We’ll likely never know the full context of that exchange, but there is much to parse between the lines.