BANGKOK - Thai and Cambodian police raided a building in a border town and freed 215 foreigners, a senior Thai official said on Sunday, in an expansion of a regional crackdown against cyber scam centers.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centers and illegal online operations across Southeast Asia, according to the United Nations. A UN report in 2023 estimated that the fast-growing operations generate billions of dollars annually.

The Sunday raid targeted a three-storey building in the Cambodian border town of Poipet in Banteay Meanchey province. The rescued foreigners included 109 Thais, 50 Pakistanis, 48 Indians, three Indonesians and five residents from China's Taiwan region.  

"This is the largest number of Thais freed from a building suspected of cyber fraud for the two countries," Thai government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub said on Sunday.

The raid was the result of a joint effort by Thailand and Camboadia to tackle scam centers, he added.

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Southeast Asian countries have stepped up efforts to tackle scam centers with recent actions along the Thai-Myanmar border. Earlier this month, Thailand cut power, fuel and internet supply to areas linked with scam centers.