MGR Online — Lao task force police have swept a major scammer and online gambling gang in Vientiane, arresting nearly 600 suspects, of whom close to 400 are Thai nationals.
This morning (21 Jul 2026), the page "Khwam Sangop" ("Peace"), the official media outlet of the Ministry for Protection of Peace — equivalent to the Ministry of Interior of the Lao PDR — reported the crackdown on a major scammer gang in the capital Vientiane, with nearly 600 suspects apprehended. More than half — close to 400 — are Thai.
The raid took place at 10:00 a.m. on 18 July 2026. Officers from the Special Task Unit for Scammer Problem Resolution, together with a mobile operations unit, surrounded a rental building in the Ban Dong Phosi area, Hadxaifong District, Vientiane Capital, after intelligence indicated that the building was being used as an operational base by telephone and internet fraud gangs and online gambling groups. Authorities then moved in to conduct the sweep and make arrests.
During the raid, a total of 589 suspects were arrested in the act of committing online fraud and luring people into gambling. Of those, 309 were women. The suspects are of four nationalities, as follows:
Thai nationals: 373 people, including 198 women; Lao nationals: 199 people, including 105 women; Vietnamese nationals: 15 people, including 4 women; and Cambodian nationals: 2 people, both women.
Officers seized a large number of computers and communications devices as evidence, and all suspects were taken in for questioning to identify the gang's leaders and the true masterminds behind the operation.
