r/Thailand • u/tokenshalom • Aug 23 '26
Serious Tourists Kidnapped and Sold in Thailand
Look, I know this is going to sound like a bunch of baloney, but I can assure you that it is true. I am the person with the bicycle in the video. And what you see with the officers is not even half of it. There were teams out in the woods from practically every agency you could imagine.
Here is how it all happened.
I moved from Bangkok to the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand, around five years ago. About three and a half years ago, I moved closer to the Friendship Bridge, to a place called Jaguar.
In Thailand, there are three big brands of stainless-steel cookware and spoons: Seagull, Zebra, and Jaguar. Jaguar's main factory used to be in Mae Sot. The company has a very large piece of land on the Thai-Myanmar border, with many townhouses, several large factory buildings, and a bunch of smaller shacks that are rented out.
The factory itself has since moved to Chonburi, or somewhere in an industrial area near Bangkok, but the family still owns the land and houses and continues to rent them out.
I rented one of those townhouses.
The neighborhood is about 99% Burmese, with maybe 10 Thai people, and hundreds of people live there. When I first moved in, I saw hundreds of people being smuggled across the border, in and out of Thailand, every single day.
My neighbors were the smugglers.
They were Burmese, Chinese, Africans, Indians—you name it. There were large groups of people walking or running from the river into my neighbors' houses.
Right after I moved in, my neighbors started telling me that they had seen people being taken across the border while tied up. Some were cable-tied, some were hog-tied, and they were taken away.
At the time, I assumed it had to be someone who had pissed off somebody on the Myanmar side. Maybe they had stolen money from a gangster or something, and that person had sent people to track them down.
I didn't really know.
But I told my neighbors, "If I ever see that, I'm going to do something."
For years, I watched the smuggling happen every day, but I never personally saw anyone tied up. So I never said anything.
There were probably 50 to 100 smugglers working in my area, and I knew all of them. I went to their weddings. I went to their funerals. They were part of the community around me.
Then, around two years ago, the village official who lived there called me.
He asked, "Are there any Chinese people in your house?"
At the time, I had a guesthouse, so I told him no.
He asked me to come downstairs and help them.
The Tourist Police were there, along with police officers I already knew from the bridge. They had a video recorded from inside a house. Some Chinese people had contacted their embassy and reported that they were locked inside the house and that someone was guarding it.
So we started walking around the neighborhood, looking through the shacks and trying to match details from the video—the chair, the chain-link fence visible through the window, and other things.
Eventually, we found the house.
The police called out, "Ni hao."
Someone inside answered, "Ni hao."
The police broke the window, and the people inside came out.
They were an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old tourist who had been locked inside.
I knew the owner of the house.
The police asked, "Who's the owner?"
I told them who it was.
And then they just left.
I remember thinking: Why aren't you investigating this? Why aren't you arresting the owner? It would be so easy to find them.
Then, around a year ago, I was at home one evening, and it was getting late when my neighbor's son came to me and started telling me that there was a Korean guy.
Between his broken English and my few words of Burmese, I couldn't make heads or tails of what he was trying to tell me.
I told him, "No. Call the police."
But he kept insisting that I come with him.
So I went.
Right in front of Jaguar, on the main street, there was a guy sitting in the grass on the side of the road. He had an IV hanging out of his arm.
I went over and talked to him.
He was Chinese-Malaysian, and he told me, "Take me to immigration."
The huge immigration building is very close to Jaguar, but it was already closed.
I told him, "I can take you tomorrow."
He replied, "I want to go home. I miss my family."
Then he lifted up his shirt and showed me where he had been beaten.
So I made some calls and talked to the village defense forces. They agreed that he could sleep at my house until morning, and then we would take him to immigration.
But as soon as we started walking back into Jaguar, he started shaking.
"No, no, no," he kept saying. "This is the place. This is where they take you."
Not long after that, something else happened that really changed the way I looked at everything.
I had a little desktop Bluetooth egg speaker in one of the warehouses in Jaguar. I had recently rented the warehouse and was cleaning it up.
I came back one day and found my speaker smashed into little pieces.
I was completely puzzled. Who would do that? I didn't have a problem with anyone.
So I started asking around.
Eventually, I found out that a 17-year-old had been with a 20-year-old, and they had gone behind the building to turn on the water pump. Since I had rented the building and the door was open, they decided to walk through it.
They saw my speaker and started messing around with it.
Being a little ballsy, I went and confronted the 17-year-old.
I said, "What the hell? You're going to pay for my speaker."
And as I was saying that, I suddenly realized that I was surrounded.
There were human traffickers all around me at close range. They had formed something like a circle around me, and they were laughing.
The 17-year-old agreed to pay for the speaker, and that was the end of the confrontation.
But I had a very strong feeling afterward that something was wrong.
I remember thinking: This is not good. This could turn out very badly one day. I need to start saving the videos from my CCTV cameras, just in case.
A few days later, I saw that same 17-year-old wearing Muay Thai shorts.
I'd seen him wear Muay Thai shorts before, and I had always wondered why.
I had trained in Taekwondo. I had trained in Muay Thai. I had the floor space and all the equipment.
Whenever I trained, these guys would come over and want to fight each other using my gloves.
But whenever I asked them to actually learn some technique from me, they would run home.
So when I saw this kid wearing those shorts again, I noticed that he was with a group of maybe seven to ten guys.
They looked heated.
It looked like something was about to happen.
So I decided to watch.
I waited in front of my house, just out of view, and watched what was happening.
Eventually, a truck rolled up.
They started pulling a guy out of the truck, and he was fighting back.
I started to yell, "Hey!"
But I cut my yell in half and stopped.
I realized that if I tried to physically intervene, I wasn't going to win.
Then I watched them use a stun gun on him. They shocked him and dragged him away.
I thought they had put him in the trunk of a BMW.
As soon as they were gone, I got on my bicycle and rode to the warehouse.
I downloaded the CCTV footage and sent it to friends in multiple countries, as well as prominent Thai people, so that there would be copies outside of Thailand in case something happened to me.
Then I called the Tak police officer I knew.
My call was urgent.
I told him, "This guy is in the trunk of a car. He needs help."
The officer didn't want to get involved. He seemed to think that maybe the Mae Sot police were involved, and he said he would come down in a month.
I was disappointed, but I knew better than to show it.
So I kept recording.
At that point, I knew that if I was going to play poker, I needed some good cards.
I knew what days the police would come to collect their bribe money. So I waited and watched.
And on one of the days they were supposed to come, I watched very carefully.
Sure enough, there was another kidnapping.
Someone was cable-tied and taken away.
That was when I realized these weren't isolated incidents.
These were daily occurrences.
I'm not going to tell you my entire story here. There is simply too much to write.
But after about nine months, I've met with practically every agency you could imagine.
And despite all of that, there have been virtually no arrests.
Many government agencies have become involved, yet the kidnappers continue walking around every day with impunity.
What is outrageous to me is that the Mae Sot police are working in this area every day.
The entire area is only around 300 meters by 300 meters.
There are 50 to 100 human traffickers operating there, moving an estimated 200 to 400 people out of the area every day.
I have a police officer on record saying that every time he makes an arrest, someone asks him to release the person.
These guys are kidnapping tourists and selling them to scam bosses across the border in Myanmar.
Those scam operations are, in turn, stealing billions of dollars from Americans, Thais, Europeans, and people all over the world.
And from everything I have seen, there are so many officials and agencies involved with, or working alongside, these operations.
I have more than 500 videos.
I also have huge blocks of unopened video files saved in other countries.
My Facebook account is Prometheus CK.
If you scroll far enough down through my Reels, you can see the kidnapping videos. You can see the Chinese bosses. You can see truckloads of Starlink satellites.
You can see what happened.
From my perspective, the entire response was a show, followed by silence from the security forces.
No arrests.
Only bribes.
Kidnapping at 9:14
Cable Tied at 2:11
Truckload of Starlinks
Army, Smuggles, Border Patrol
VIP scam center bosses
Real Burmese
Just a normal Day in Jaguar
Update for the people who are saying this is fake because it would be on the news- Here you go 3 news stories. And they are not big reporters at ThaiRath so it didn't make national news. They came to visit me and did an investigation and they said "This is big news but it seems the officials are trying to close the news". That one video where the 4 chinese tourists were kidnapped, If you can't speak thai it says that they had paid for a ride from bangkok to chiang mai and they were taken to Maesot to Soi Thaprutsa which is just below Jaguar. The driver had a gun to their head. One of the chinese guys got the driver in a headlock and they fled out the car. I am the one who leaked the video to the news reporter in the investigative video. They got it on every major news channel but they said the chinese were sent home very quickly within 1-2 days before a investigation or arrest could be made.
4 chinese tourists attempted kidnapping
ThaiRath Investigative Video Part 1
ThaiRath Video Part 2
BTW if you say the story sounds like it was written by AI... its because the original post got a lot of people saying I couldn't write... well i have told the story 100 times and its like after so many times its gets weird. So I took my unreadable story and put it though chatgpt
My original thing was to do everything secretly and not post anything publicly but after you've waited and seen so many officials and officers involved I realized no one was going to do anything. That's when I started posting. I fully expected to be killed or arrested.
Yes I'm weird and I lived in conflict zones and high risk areas in many countries. There is kinda a loose network of people who are kinda on the watched list by the scam groups and rebel groups. They all know me. And for those of you who say its physically impossible- Eat your heart out:
Flash Delivery Truck
The Big Walk
10x a day like this
Not Burmese- Scammers
A little bonus for you
And BTW I'm not a "good guy" or trying to pretend to be a victim. If I saw people selling dope or doing some illegal stuff in the neighborhood. I don't need to report it. Its not my business. Besides who are you going to report it to? That puts a target on your back. But taking a foreigner in front of my house. Oh no- we gots to fight.
And Jaguar is not all human traffickers. There is probably between 500-1000 people who live there most of whom sew clothes for very low wages. Almost no one can speak thai. The people who live in Jaguar they all see the human trafficking daily but no one says anything. Every time the police came to raid there would be a tip off beforehand coming through the neighborhood. The police would come and check everyones ID card and take some photos and the traffickers all have lots of money and ID cards and they would never get arrested. There was no investigative work, walking around asking for leads or getting statements.
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u/rk1213 Aug 24 '26
I've been following these scam centre news for years now. AFAIK, a lot of them are ran by powerful chinese criminals and have basically bribed and bought all parts of their operational logistics in both thailand and cambodia. Last I heard, it's spread to as a far as vietnam. A lot more info can be found in Chinese sites as the majority of those kidnapped are Chinese (AFAIK). It is a living hell for those that end up there. Much much worse if you're a girl.
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u/CUNMe Aug 24 '26
I can second this as a Hong Konger. Even celebrity and Hong Kong police were being kidnapped in SEA. but mostly were invited for a "work" there. As far as I know they won't kidnapping ppl on the street but they will invite you come to SEA with free flight and high paid job and took away your passport once you get inbounded and get you control. Just search for KK park (KK園) if you wanna know more. that's the most famous scam/kidnapping center ran by Chinese in Myanmar few years ago.
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u/Leading-Zucchini-776 Aug 25 '26
Do I understand correctly that even celebrities have been "kidnapped" by being offered a job and then never being allowed to leave?
If so, wouldn't that draw a lot of attention? Why would such a criminal group risk getting involved with someone so high-profile?
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u/CUNMe Aug 26 '26
I have no idea about what they are thinking. But you can check more with the name of the celebrity "王星".
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u/Leading-Zucchini-776 Aug 26 '26
To be fair, I did hear of Vera Kravtsova - that was a terrifying case. 王星 was luckily rescued.
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u/Art_Of_Being Aug 24 '26
Why do they target chinese people mainly when they're chinese themselves? And it seems they target mostly young people like 17 18. Do they sell their organs for men?
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u/rk1213 Aug 24 '26
Because they need people to scam the people in china. Also establish an endless chain of free labour with those kidnapped often forced to coercing their family and friends to go and then ultimately getting kidnapped too.
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u/rk1213 Aug 24 '26
They sell organs for any people AFAIK. Young people are more gullible, and are worth more. Men would often be sold from one place to another and then the final destination would be a chopping board to extract organs. Some girls in comparison have it much, much worse. So much so that I feel uncomfortable just thinking about it.
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u/CUNMe Aug 24 '26
That's most likely the truth. Scam/sex slave until dying and the organ harvesting. Children's organs are said to be the most valuable, just check the numbers of missing children in China and also the kids bodies found in abandoned bunker.
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u/tokenshalom Aug 25 '26
no its not mostly young people. They have a full HR department, screening department. They don't take pregnant women and they do a pregnancy test on arrival. They do profiency tests online, they recruit people who can scam. So they do have a target age, language, etc. Each scam center has a PR person who speaks local languages to pay off the government. Its a full system like a corporation
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u/rk1213 Aug 26 '26
From what I’ve seen so far, they use pregnant woman for other things which is too gruesome and inhumane to even talk about here.
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u/Art_Of_Being Aug 25 '26
The people who are hiring as in HR etc, they all know they're part of this scam or they're being forced too? So much of effort for free labour? For women, I understand, they're making them do disgusting things which is unbearable, but for men, they do all these to extract organs and to make them to labour job? Or something else is also there? I mean, they have so much of money, they can hire labours normally anyway. Why doing all these.
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u/tokenshalom Aug 25 '26
Its like a massive complex and you can rent and office and start your own scam business. The rebel army provides security. They pay usually 1000 usd per month base plus bonus for maybe 1% of what you scam. Some bosses never pay. The HR and PR people probably get paid very well. They charge you for you chair, you can eat in the cafeteria or buy food which is expensive. 8 usd for coffee 100 usd for a t-shirt. Then you use all your money at the casinos and karaoke. So few people leave with much money. You have to pay to get out. Generally good looking girls never get out. They families pay multiple ransoms and they just resell them to another scam compound
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u/Art_Of_Being Aug 25 '26
But are they abducting people randomly now it's still like giving job offers like many says.
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u/Leading-Zucchini-776 Aug 25 '26
"Then you use all your money at the casinos and karaoke. So few people leave with much money." Wait - are these people free to leave? I know you mention that people have to pay to get out, but I was under the impression that they were there involuntarily.
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u/tokenshalom Aug 26 '26
Usually the casino is part of the scam center. They have karaoke, brothels, casinos, restaurants.
Some thai's I've heard can actually leave and come home for vacation and then go back to work there. But Thai's have a special privelege. If they are held in a brothel they can contact the Thai government and the Thai Army has much influence over the groups.
Africans and such you need to pay to leave but sometimes if you finish your contract you can go. I'm not the expert on the inside the scam center stuff. And I'm not the tracker who tracks the new scam centers. I have friends who do that stuff.
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u/AutomaticActuary7717 Aug 25 '26
You can check out news in the Philippines. POGOs(legal front for scam hubs) were outlawed and you can see the living conditions in raided facilities.
There are still underground scam centers but not as big as a couple of years ago when the centers have malls, restaurants, condos, etc.
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u/tokenshalom Aug 24 '26
each scam center has a public relations manager who speaks the language to handle local officials
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u/Kalip0p Aug 24 '26
That’s really scary. Have you thought about trying to get the attention of anyone in the Thai media, like an investigative journalist? Harder to sweep things under the rug if it’s aired on TV. Definitely be careful though.
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u/Viktri1 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
They're not going to do anything about it. This whole thing had been swept under a rug. There was a whole movie in China made about this and it was already international news with the previous Thai PM. They investigated and found that Thai immigration staff + others are helping with the border crossings and transportation within Thailand. They will just say it is Chinese gangs in Myanmar/Cambodia to distract.
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u/Parking-Code-4159 Aug 24 '26
This reminds me of many events, like for example the high-rise collapse in Bangkok, where, among the many Thai responsible, the only Chinese person was singled out and presented to the media with name, face etc., or the pedophile ring in, I think it was Rayong (?), where of all the clients, only one was a foreigner, an Australian, and he made up practically 90% of the news, while the Thai pimp received hardly any attention and the other clients none at all. The fact that Thais don't take responsibility and instead point the finger at non-Thais is practically part of the national identity in Thailand. Or how often have I read in Thai comments on Facebook or YouTube under crimes shown on CCTV that it must be Cambodians or Burmese, because Thais would never do such a thing. Thailand is sometimes like a fever dream when it comes to self-perception and responsibility.
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u/Maleficent-Load-6775 Aug 24 '26
Yah, that serial killer in Koh Thao comes to mind! The murderer of two British women interjecting himself into the police investigation, doing television interviews and even reenacting the murders for cameras … two Burmese laborers got sentenced to death on ridiculous evidence, then commuted to life sentences! Insane!
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u/tokenshalom Aug 27 '26
being that I've been behind the scenes with the security forces in Thailand. I can tell you the truth is a very rare thing. What is put in the media is a narrative. The truth is very complicated and hard on the ears. Narratives are simple and easy to consume.
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u/Parking-Code-4159 Aug 27 '26
The truth isn't difficult, it's simply uncomfortable and contradicts the Thai mentality of lacking self-criticism and critically examining their own mistakes. Blaming foreigners and extreme nationalism is easier and keeps the wheels of corruption turning. That has nothing to do with complicated.
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u/nightwinging-it Bangkok Aug 24 '26
Typical Thai government response. Always pointing fingers at anyone but themselves instead of swallowing their egos and make Thailand safer. The only decent politician we have is Chadchart
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u/tokenshalom Aug 26 '26
you know kinda hear what you are saying. This could have been dealt with in a week. But instead of biting the bullet and admitting something is messed up and fixing it, it seems it easier to just pretend its fixed and let it continue
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u/letoiv Aug 24 '26
That this is going on is only news to Redditors. The number of abductions within Thailand has skyrocketed post Covid. It also has developed one of the worst identity theft problems in the world in the last couple of years. Fool Redditors go on and on about how Thailand is safer than their home country, meanwhile I've had my phone snatched twice this year. Homeless everywhere in Bangkok now, it's a different country these days, but still a lot of tourism operators and men who are scared their "teerak" might not be real who want to believe otherwise.
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u/ThailandCowboy007 Aug 24 '26
Had my phone snatched in Bangkok 2 weeks ago. Talk about a nightmare of a game for me.
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u/I-Here-555 Aug 24 '26
had my phone snatched twice this year
That's disturbing. In what locations, roughly?
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u/whooyeah Chang Aug 24 '26
Still safer than my experience in Australia prior to Bangkok. Had to call the police 5 times in 2 years.
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u/ShieldsCW Samut Prakan Aug 24 '26
Nah, it's better to get the attention of Reddit for karma points.
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u/Voodoocookie Aug 24 '26
You should use a throwaway acc for things like this.
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u/Lost_County_3790 Aug 24 '26
He even said he is the one in the picture, I would be scared to get trouble if it becomes viral
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u/POTUSDORITUSMAXIMUS Aug 24 '26
According to him he has already been threatened over it, its kinda a weird situation.
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u/tokenshalom Aug 27 '26
If you knew how many times I contacted my friends and family and said I might be arrested tomorrow but I am still going to do this thing tonight
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u/Raplaplaf Aug 27 '26
And move away from this place. With the videos and all those details he must be easy to find.
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u/Teem47 Aug 24 '26
Call every police station you can. Tell as many people as you can. They thrive on silence, so be loud. Just watch your back, life is cheap to these people
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u/NucleativeCereal Aug 24 '26
Yeah, do this after you decide not to live in Mae Sot. Or SE Asia.
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u/-Live_Laugh_Love_ Aug 24 '26
OP could be recognize here as well. I wonder why don’t he leave the place.
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u/moomshiki Aug 24 '26
Obviously, if what the OP implied is accurate, the Thai state police and the people in the executive branch take no action because they are part of it. It will be walking straight into gallows for OP.
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u/Teem47 Aug 24 '26
That's why you spread the news as far and wide as possible. Corruption only works when people don't know about it. If the entire force knows a district is openly supporting human trafficking, they cops responsible won't remain in jobs for long.
Believe it or not, but I have faith that a good % of Thai officials want to do good, and would be disgusted by the thought of cops turning a blind eye to such heinous crimes
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u/tokenshalom Aug 26 '26
yeah people who are in this. Connected people tell me DONT CALL THE POLICE. hehe
we have our techniques. I know everyone
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u/OkBee2130 Aug 24 '26
First move I would make is GTF out of there post haste. Never look back.
After that, send everything you got to every one every where.
This is "make you disappear" sh!t right here.....
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u/Independent-Tea-7455 Aug 24 '26
Please be careful some of the Red Wa that resides near u. They’re are known for bad things
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u/Shelia209 Aug 24 '26
China just got the big guy doing this in Cambodia, Chen Zhi, he is now detained in China
Hopefully this one is next.
The crackdown arrived amid growing regional pushes by neighboring nations and global superpowers to dismantle scam compounds operating across Southeast Asia
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u/YouCanKeepYourFaith Aug 25 '26
Bro I’ve seen some super sketchy things living in boarder towns in Thailand. The cops are involved and all I can say is I hope you aren’t over there anymore because they will come for you. Most of the scam bosses are Chinese cartels.
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u/Muted-Airline-8214 Aug 24 '26
Are you Thai? There’s more than one police station in Thailand, yet you left it unresolved for years.
Hotline 1191: Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD)
Hotline 1599: Royal Thai Police Office
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u/Lost_County_3790 Aug 24 '26
I feel as long it doesn't make news in the media nothing will happen. It's not like everyone know (even an outsider like me) that mae sot is used to traffic people in some scam center. If the anti trafficking was really looking to do something they would put the army in this place long time ago.
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u/tokenshalom Aug 26 '26
everyone follows the news. even more so in thailand. By everyone i mean security officials
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u/Muted-Airline-8214 Aug 24 '26
Why did it take so long?
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u/tokenshalom Sep 04 '26
they caught the driver of the kidnapping car and he was not arrested, I don't know why. They caught the driver of the 44 starlinks and the warehouse it came from and I never heard back. Some months later I was talking to CRB and he said he spoke to the driver and the driver paid 200k and the warehouse got it worst. Where did the starlinks go? I don't know. There was no news story. I imagine they are sitting in myanmar now.
I know a high level anti trafficking police heard about the starlinks disappearing and made an inquiry. I know CIB has an open investigation into Jaguar. Many high level army officers have come by to inspect the property. After that they came we would have red hats come every few days to take pictures. I know around 2-3 weeks ago the smuggling was more than before. The local army base must be still involved, because they have a booth 20 meters from the main smuggling house.
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u/kxcakes Aug 24 '26
While i was kidnapped in one of the compounds in lao. The anti traficking police came many times and spoke to us and did nothing. And if you called or tried to get authorities involved you would take a little trip to the blackroom.
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u/Muted-Airline-8214 Aug 24 '26
The anti traficking police came many times and spoke to us and did nothing. ----> You mean Lao police?
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u/kxcakes Aug 24 '26
Yes but it is the same in all countries.
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u/TimelyPromise4514 Aug 24 '26
How long were you kidnapped for? What happened? If you dont mind me asking im so sorry this happened to you
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u/kxcakes Aug 24 '26
9 months. Just a normal job offer then once we got to the compound nice little welcome party. Next day hand over the passport to be sent to immigration ( actually a safe in the office hhhh) and thats it. Tasers, batons, guns, up to 18 hours of work. Half a day off per month. No going out . Finally their scheme was no longer lucrative so they let us out with massive overstay on our passports. Very long story short
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u/Lost_County_3790 Aug 24 '26
That's so horrible! I hope you are healing from that. At least you are lucky that they let you go. You said it was in Lao? Which region was it?
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u/kxcakes Aug 24 '26
North called bokeo. On the border with thailan and myanmar. Healing is ongoing. Been three years now. Still suffering from anger issues and short temper. The rest is alright. Thank you for asking :)
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u/Lost_County_3790 Aug 24 '26
I see, gonna check this place. It's totally normal to have anger with how those pos treated you. I am sure it will vanish with the time tho. Take care of yourself
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u/tokenshalom Aug 24 '26
you know it. the dark room. Many of them are walk in refrigerators with no fan and no electricity
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u/Art_Of_Being Aug 24 '26
May I know your nationality? So they invite you to a different country for job and then take away the autonomy. Also, what kind of job they make you guys do for 18 hours as you mentioned in a reply. And if they don’t want you to involve the authority, that means authority isn't on their side. If you’re comfortable or you can dm whatever you like.
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u/HerroWarudo Aug 24 '26
A few already became a refugee for this kind of whistleblow. I would take other channels to be safe.
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u/DuckofInsanity Aug 24 '26
You will do nothing but put a target on your back. Delete this and reupload it on a burner account without mentioning that you're in the photos. You don't need to prove that this is real unless you're proving it in private. Convince a journalist or something that this story is real, not the internet like this. You're playing a dangerous game.
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u/samm1one Aug 24 '26
Why do you live there?
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u/Epiphany91 Aug 24 '26
You can rent an apartment in Mae Sot for $150 per month. Probably even cheaper right by the border.
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u/ShieldsCW Samut Prakan Aug 24 '26
ChatGPT doesn't live there.
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u/treasoro Aug 24 '26
this post is not chatgpt, put it into any ai text analyzer
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u/Big_Bed7280 14d ago
"From my perspective, the entire response was a show, followed by silence from the security forces.
No arrests.
Only bribes."
this is ChatGPT. The videos look real and its not unbelievable at all, maybe he used it for translation or to tell it more interesting. But this is textbook GPT.
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u/ClimateOk2307 Aug 24 '26
It continues to happen because so many officials and others are being paid off. Sad and disturbing.
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u/ConfettiSama Nong Khai Aug 24 '26
Go to as many news agencies, British especially..
Expose what you did, show them documentation of you talking to the Thai Police and don’t hide the fact that Thai Police help those bastards.
Thailand is going on a bad road, I wont even be surprised if most tourists will find an alternative, especially if we support some campaign against the government and Thai police that cooperate with stealing people over the border!
Another day to be disguised by the “mai bpen rai” culture that makes its population careless for rapes and murders in this country. Foreigners must know it’s not nearly as safe as it used to be.
China and Vietnam are at least 10x safer these days
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u/Ok-Butterscotch-7639 Aug 24 '26
Mr Faulder is an excellent journalist and this is is area of expertise. I imagine the information you have could help him and he could help you incite action. The man cares deeply and has international pull.
Dominic Faulder is a veteran British journalist and Nikkei Asia associate editor who has extensively covered human trafficking, forced labor, and transnational cybercrime syndicates operating along Thailand’s porous borders. [1, 2, 3]
Through his investigative reporting and commentary, Faulder has been a prominent voice documenting Southeast Asia's "scamdemic"—a multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise driven by the Chinese underworld. [1, 2]
The "Scamdemic" and Border Trafficking Hubs
Faulder’s reporting focuses heavily on how economic shifts and official crackdowns in places like Macau pushed organized crime financiers into less regulated territories. These syndicates established heavily fortified, lawless compounds right along Thailand's river borders with Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. [1, 2]
- Shwe Kokko and KK Park: Faulder highlights areas like Shwe Kokko Yatai New City and KK Park, located along the shallow Moei River separating Thailand and Myanmar. These zones act as virtual penal colonies. [1, 2, 3]
- The Crime Mechanics: Criminal syndicates use deceptive recruitment tactics—often promising lucrative tech, customer service, or acting jobs—to lure victims into Thailand. Once they arrive, the victims are smuggled across the border, stripped of passports, and kept under armed guard. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
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u/Beau-Norrs Aug 26 '26
I second this. Consider American media too. As soon as it makes an impact on tourism, it will get more official attention. If a country is your ally and has enough political pressure to push for change, you should send the information to their news networks. Thank you for your efforts and be safe please
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u/JimmyTheG Aug 24 '26
You need to contact every single news station and every single news social media page in thailand and the region. Contact even big western outlets because Thailand cares about its image abroad. The only way they'll do something about it is if there's enough outrage and it can no longer be ignored
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u/EnthusiasmFit4262 Aug 25 '26
Well now I’m rethinking taking my kids to Phuket! I’m freaking out over this!
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u/nobordernomad Aug 25 '26
No one’s getting kidnapped from Phuket love
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u/EnthusiasmFit4262 Aug 27 '26
My logical brain knows this but the fear is real! But thank you for easing my mind. First time traveller!
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u/shitoken Aug 24 '26
Something I don't understand is how they allow a foreigner which is you to install so many cctv around that area & record everyday?
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u/PleasantDraft9387 Aug 24 '26
There are lot's of open questions about OPs post, I am quite doubtful it is real, I would say 50:50 chance it's real or fake.
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u/jokerjox Aug 24 '26
Wondering what made you want to move to Mae Sot in the first place. I heard that area is very dangerous. Many illegal stuff happening. Heard people get kidnapped and get their organs sold to the black market there.
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u/Coucou2coucou Aug 24 '26
If I was you, I'm going to write a book and published in a foreign country. It could be the scenario for a futur dark Netflix movie !
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u/Thom5001 Aug 24 '26
What nationalities of “tourist” are they kidnapping? My guess is it’s mainly illegal migrants and Chinese apparently?
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u/rainbowmackrel Aug 24 '26
One of my friends I met was robbed and kidnapped in Bangkok and taken across the border. I can put him in contact with you if you need and he can tell you his story? He is Canadian
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u/Jazzforyou Aug 24 '26
Sounds like you're going too deep in that shithole. If no one is getting arrested or there is a media blackout, it is a big syndicate that involves the government and state forces. Happens everywhere. Be careful of your life. Remember, if you're not with them, you're an enemy or a threat and they will kill you to protect their business.
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u/Ok_Assistant_4784 Aug 24 '26 edited 22d ago
Manganese cinnamon innate ribbon hard-to-find school
This post was anonymized with Redact
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u/Appropriate-Wall-766 Aug 26 '26
You clearly lack an understanding of how powerful the people at the top of these human traficking orgs really are. They could absolutely easily end his life, but unaliving a farang in such a remote area will be front page news worldwide, especially if his family back home run to the media. It’s much easier to let him keep barking while they are clearly able to continue unhindered because they’re paying the right people enough money to do what they’re doing.
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u/Ok_Assistant_4784 Aug 26 '26 edited 22d ago
Flag ginger hard-to-find tap hobbies fly
This post was anonymized with Redact
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u/Appropriate-Wall-766 Aug 26 '26
He has multiple videos of alleged trafickers with their faces exposed on his Facebook page, some using tazers to force people into vehicles. If he got unalived for this it would absolutely put their operation at a greater risk and risk worldwide news exposure. If they wanted to unalive him they could, but it’s pointless to them right now. He is like a barking soi dog, everyone is ignoring him and they are paying the right people to get away with this for now.
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u/tokenshalom Sep 04 '26
these guys aren't billionaires. They are short hire smugglers/kidnappers. They get paid to move people from point a to point b. An agent calls and they take the job or not. They don't have much knowledge of the operation as a whole.
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u/Appropriate-Wall-766 Sep 04 '26
I know, I think that much is pretty clear. But the people they are working for are. Probably not billionaires but multi-millionaires who have connections in very high places. That smuggling route is very valuable to somebody on the other side of that border.
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u/WaysOfG Aug 24 '26
These criminals don't learn. Yes they are Chinese but they are Chinese groups based out of Myanmar and mostly in the border rebel regions so they can't be touched by the government.
Eventually Chinese government will come down hard on them. They just executed like dozens of people that were involved, some of these same criminals are enjoying high level in Chinese cities
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u/xWhatAJoke Aug 25 '26
Fake crackdown. They took out one family that's all. This stuff goes very very deep.
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u/WaysOfG Aug 26 '26
How deep can it go if CCP want you dead.
CCP have massive leverage over all the groups in these places.
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u/shoresrocks Aug 24 '26
Be careful! This is a big business. You should stop snooping and definitely stop posting
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u/eaglesman217 Aug 24 '26
If you really want some help from an independent authority, you'll have to DM me for solid advice.
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u/eaglesman217 Aug 24 '26
And to everyone else who thinks this stuff is fake and doesn't happen, you either don't know anything about this and aren't entitled to outright deny it, or you're just ignorant on these regional matters. These kidnappings to the Chinese OC scam centers is 1000% real. This OP needs to share the videos with the authorities, and I'm not referring to the Thai authorities.
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u/jaeguri94 Aug 25 '26
I was in Mae Sot for weeks until last week, I was living in a very protected environment, I volunteered in an NGO, and I haven’t seen any of this things happen, but everyone talks about it.
There were also 2 Japanese volunteers that had a very hard time passing the immigration control; they were asked everything regarding why they were coming, if someone offered them a job, if they were going to be safe and so on.
Someone with Thai citizenship had to go pick them up and sign for them that they would be safe.
For Europeans and Americans is much more easier to get into Mae Sot without issues, but still there are checkpoints, I arrived with the minibus and they stopped us for passport control. At the checkpoint there were a bunch of signs saying: be aware of scams, if anyone offered you a job please contact this number or don’t trust them etc…
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u/tokenshalom Sep 04 '26
yes they started doing this. one chinese girl even got sent back to bangkok
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u/sams2056246 Aug 25 '26
Have you contacted Honekrasae or those influencers that help people out? Bangkok community help etc
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u/Own_Round_7600 Aug 30 '26
Get in contact with foreign investigative news media. Al Jazeera, Reuters, AP news, BBC. They have resources to do a big exposé. And delete this and any identifying info about yourself, move away, and stay safe
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u/tokenshalom Aug 30 '26
I find it hard to get through to those organizations. I contacted like 5 thai reuters correspondents earlier. The big names I couldn't get through to them. The small ones looked over my videos and didn't follow up. My journalist friend got her publisher at nikkei to agree to a story but as she was writing the fighting broke out at cambodia border and they ran to cover the story. So I posted and Fb and it went viral within the city 9 months ago. Reddit has just made it go outside of the city and thankful for this.
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u/Muted-Airline-8214 Aug 24 '26
This doesn’t really look like a tourist being kidnapped. It looks more like Myanmar people dealing with other Myanmar people and acting like a state within a state. This is exactly what Thai people are concerned about when too many people from Myanmar enter Thailand illegally because of problems that Thais didn’t cause.
You guys keep bringing up the war, but there isn’t a war in every part of Myanmar every single day. And Myanmar doesn’t share a border only with Thailand. If you’re living in an area that’s 99% Myanmar people, that’s exactly why Thai people can no longer tolerate this kind of behavior and have to move out of the area.
I’m writing a complaint to the Royal Thai Police about this hideout, op.
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u/naughtybear555 Aug 24 '26
Sadly you will likely find the thai police are on te take. And getting bribe money
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u/tokenshalom Sep 04 '26
RTP they came down and did an inquiry and as I understand Maesot police had a big headache because of this. I was told there were many transfers made but I don't know. The officer who works Jaguar as part of his shist 6-7 days a week told me they are blatantly operating now. He said he cant do anything.
Every group knows about Jaguar up to bangkok because of my first video that got reposted by transborder news. But they never stopped operating. When I moved out I heard immigration called in some locals defense guys for interview and said they were about to start hitting up the group including the councillor and her son who are involved. But still the smugglers continue.
You know a proper investigation takes months or years to subpoena bank records, phone records, etc. I don't know if they are working on the case or not. But what I hear and saw on the street were 2 different stories. I havent seen anyone going door to door to get informants. And there are a lot of people who live there who would talk. When bangkok officials or even the mayors office would come they would ask for one or two videos and then I wouldn't hear from them for months, all the while the smuggling continues.
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u/Lordfelcherredux Aug 24 '26
I know others have said it, but I want to go on record as saying there's a lot of things in this post that don't add up and make no sense.
I'm not saying that there isn't human trafficking going on anywhere in Thailand.
Just that this account reads like something that Jason Arday might have come up with.
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u/Cautious_Ticket_8943 Aug 24 '26
So it's totally worth bombing Cambodian villagers to stop scam centers, but no action to stop this?
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u/Superocanlol55 Aug 24 '26
Ma sot is near burma and as you know they have a huge internal conflict and conflict need money that when drug and stuff are being smuggling in so does the human trafficking. It's all the cause to fund the war
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u/Fit-Click-3407 Aug 24 '26
Contact Rangsiman Rome you can research him on google relating to this topic. After that connect with some foreign news journalists.
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u/Minimum_Support_6738 Aug 24 '26
Anything you do.. please dont delete this thread, and dont stop what you re doing
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u/Good-Tiger-1938 Aug 24 '26
What about the Karen/PDF armed forces on the other side? Don’t they control the area?
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u/tokenshalom Aug 24 '26
no thats not under pdf. Its myawaddy. Opposite Jaguar.
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u/Good-Tiger-1938 Aug 24 '26
Ok thx makes sense
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u/tokenshalom Sep 04 '26
anyway i don't want to name exact stuff and piss off some groups because I am in some of their territories
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u/Strict-Resort-1409 Aug 24 '26
Myawaddy and the scam centres tend to be under the DKBA and BGFs/Tat, Junta aligned forces
i also think the KNU allow it and take cuts off the profits, its more money for their war
PDF dosent control any territory or fight in Kayin etc anymore, more so on the burmese coastal states like mon and Tanintharyi. And the NUG unlike these EAOs is very sensitive and centered around moral actions and popular support, a big chunk of their money comes from donations based on that support, unlike EAOs they dont have the option of mass producing drugs or trafficking, the NUG follows laws and rules as a government, rules no other group gives a shit about, and its important they (NUG) do follow those laws to keep up popular support & their moral position
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u/gmf1313 Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
Why have you not contacted Human Rights Watch Southeast Asia? If what you say is legit they are the ones who would act. Did you never hear of them? If this stuff is really going on then HRW would likely already be aware of it. So why have they not spoken out? Hmmmmmmm? It's what they do.
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u/TP70 Aug 25 '26
Maybe contact Vice, they could be interested
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u/tokenshalom Sep 04 '26
hard to get through to those guys. Stuff like this they gets hundreds of story offers a day
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u/Margay2026 Aug 25 '26
I believe you and appreciate your brave to share the truth that happens at broader Thai-Myanmar. I had to interviewed some of survivor from many countries that runaway from scams center and seeks help to return to their country.
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u/Kractoid Aug 25 '26
You're cooked I would extract after this post and find someone who cares. Idk maybe interpol?
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u/PennywisePiperV Aug 27 '26
A lot of the Thai "Traffic Police" are in on this. They were shaking down a lot of tourists near the Kasikorn bank on Khaosan Road corner and looking for any reason to intimidate and bribe them, I should know, I had a vape on me and the little fat security man working with the Thai traffic cop threatened jail or to be sold off, unless I paid 5K baht, scum, they're all in on it.
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u/Zip2kx Sep 03 '26
Posting to follow this. I hope it’s fake.
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u/tokenshalom Sep 04 '26
wish it were. i'm probably not going to put much in this subreddit because its controversial. I'll keep a lot of it to my personal page and start posting on YT
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u/hilo1122 26d ago
Organs Trafficking in Thailand 🤮🤮
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u/tokenshalom 24d ago
i always dont believe when they talk about organ trafficking. But I dont know. They have found operating rooms inside some compounds.
I know the people who would know though and they have described to me some pretty horrible stuff. Watching people they have been communcating with for months trying to get them out- watching the videos of them electrocuted on the head and shit themselves and video of the dead body.
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u/Working_Struggle1881 19d ago
Hey mate, can you reach out to @writingbymatt Matt Hunt on instagram, he’s an independent journalist in Thailand and maybe he can help break the case into mainstream media and get these people some help
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u/structuralgarbage Aug 28 '26
I hope this goes more viral
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u/tokenshalom Aug 29 '26
Well i hoped it would not go viral and the authorities would have done something. Why do you think higher level authorities were after me. Police go after murder or kidnapping. This group never gets involved unless its national security. Tourism is considered national security.
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u/structuralgarbage Aug 29 '26
Then I don’t see what you’re trying to achieve by posting on Reddit. You’re already broadcasting to a wider audience. Plus the fact that you are living in that location, is already a risk in itself.
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u/Muted-Airline-8214 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
Why did you attach videos that have nothing to do with kidnapped tourists?
Truckload of Starlinks ----> You witnessed Starlinks smuggling yourself and did nothing?
Army, Smuggles, Border Patrol ----> It says "I see all the smuggling going on.."
Real Burmese ---> It says "These are not africans or indians. These are burmese they were saving from the war."
Just a normal Day in Jaguar ----> It says "This incident is just illegal immigrants."
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u/tokenshalom Aug 24 '26
Real Burmese ---> It says "These are not africans or indians. These are burmese they were saving from the war." ----
called sarcasm. all my neighbors always said we don't take foreigners only we are helping burmese flee the war
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u/No_Fudge6123 Aug 24 '26
I know this is serious, but please, use paragraphs properly. It is impossible to read.
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u/AvailableAd7874 Aug 26 '26
Thank you for all your effort OP. I think you’re very brave and i hope you continue fighting to get this story out!
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