Police have sealed an illegally crossing between Thailand and Cambodia to smash call centre scam gangs allegedly trafficking workers across the border.

The Cambodia-based crime syndicate run by Chinese fraudsters would reportedly recruit jobseekers to open mule accounts in Thai banks, into which they would funnel ill-gotten funds from online scams.

They would then take the mule account holders to the crime ring's office in Cambodia, where they are needed for biometric scans to approve large bank transfers.

Police Lieutenant General Yingyot Thepchamnong, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 2, said the porous border crossing in Sa Kaeo province has been closed off and is now heavily guarded amid 'Operation Aranyaprathet 68 SEAL BORDER', which aims to dismantle the international scam gang.

He said: 'Since January 6, authorities have successfully arrested several suspects, including a Cambodian man smuggling a large number of phones from Thailand, a Chinese interpreter who was tortured, and Thai nationals detained in Popet for biometrics scans.'

The officer added that undercover officers identified alleged human traffickers smuggling workers through the secret route called 'Je M. – Ta T' - a dirt road that leads to a canal bordering Thailand and Cambodia.

Suspects reportedly confessed to earning 7,000 baht per smuggled person.

Police Major General Theerachai Chamnanmor, commander of the Investigation Division of Provincial Police Region 2, said the border crossing was discovered after a female Thai trafficking victim sought help from authorities.

He said the woman had agreed to rent out her bank account, but was whisked away into Poipet City in Cambodia, where she was detained.

The police lieutenant added: ‘A Thai man admitted that he was hired by a Cambodian to smuggle people across the border for 50 baht each. The Region 2 Crime Suppression Division is currently investigating and expanding the investigation to find details and those involved in the network.'

In December, British beauty queen Charlotte Austin, 25, was scammed out of £93,000 by a call centre gang based in Cambodia.

The suspects were said to have posed as Thai police and implicated her in a money laundering case involving a company called Stark Corporation.

They told her to send four million baht (93,000 GBP) 'to prove her innocence', promising to return the funds after the verification process. Charlotte obeyed and wired the cash over three transactions but her money was never returned.

Police later nabbed the alleged scammer, a Thai housewife named Parichat, 40, who claimed the operation was helmed by Chinese bosses in Cambodia.