Thai Artillery Hits Poipet Scam Towers in Cambodia, Border Towns on Edge
Skirmishes at the Thai-Cambodian frontier have leapt from background noise to dinner-table worry. Thai artillery struck two repurposed buildings in Poipet this week, saying they were no longer merely scam dens but forward posts for Cambodian troops. Border residents suddenly find their livelihoods, and in some cases their bedrooms, within ear-shot of heavy guns.
Key points at a glance
• Thai Burapha Task Force levelled two Poipet buildings on 23 Dec, claiming they were a command post and arms dump.
• Structures had once housed international call-centre fraud rings before being taken over by Cambodian forces.
• The exchange was part of a month-long escalation that has already involved F-16 strikes, 155 mm artillery and drone activity along the frontier opposite Aranyaprathet.
• Cross-border trade through the Aranyaprathet–Poipet checkpoint is down sharply; emergency shelters have opened in four Thai districts.
• Bangkok and Phnom Penh are preparing an extraordinary General Border Committee (GBC) session on 27 Dec to avert a broader war.
The strike in detail
Thai First Army officers say that at about 14:00 on 23 Dec, artillery and precision-guided rockets hit two targets inside Poipet, roughly 2 km from the Ban Nong Ian crossing. One was the 18-storey "International Center" tower, previously notorious for holding trafficked workers forced to run online romance scams. The other, a four-storey block opposite Wat Wang Mon, had allegedly become an ammunition cache dotted with sniper nests. Commanders insist thermal drones confirmed the buildings were empty of civilians before the order to fire.
From fraud hub to forward base
For Thais the names Poipet and Sihanoukville evoke images of call-centre slavery rather than infantry battles. Since 2020, Chinese-led crime syndicates moved south and set up shop in the casino strip just across the tracks from Aranyaprathet, luring Thai job-seekers who ended up shaking down their own country’s elders via fake investment apps. Police raids earlier this year rescued more than 400 Thai nationals, and investigators traced the scams to the same towers now riddled with shell holes. Analysts believe Cambodian commanders seized the vacant high-rises—already wired with back-up generators and satellite dishes—because they offered ready-made command infrastructure a stone’s throw from Thailand.
How the border heated up
The December escalation did not come out of nowhere:
18 Dec – Cambodian officials said Thai jets bombed civilian quarters; Bangkok countered that a BM-21 rocket depot was the real target.
20 Dec – Two Thai F-16s struck the outskirts of Poipet.
23 Dec – The Burapha barrage on the former call-centre towers.
26 Dec – Local media in Banteay Meanchey reported fresh 155 mm shells landing in Stung Bot village, while Cambodian artillery answered along a 15 km arc.Each side accuses the other of violating the October cease-fire, but neither has declared full-scale war. Casualty figures are fluid; Thai officials speak of "single-digit" troop losses, whereas Cambodian social-media posts claim dozens of civilian injuries.
Impact on Thai border towns
Market stalls on Thanon Chan Chorn in Aranyaprathet are open only half-day. Truckers complain of queues stretching 7 km because inspection teams now scan every container for weapons. The Chamber of Commerce estimates a ฿11 B per month hit if the main gate closes completely. Meanwhile, the First Army has converted three public schools into shelters that can house 4 000 evacuees should shelling creep closer. The familiar loudspeaker chime of the Interior Ministry’s early-warning app has become part of daily life.
"Yesterday I sold zero watermelons," says Somjai Na-bua, a vendor whose stall normally caters to casino workers on lunch break. "No workers, no tourists, and now we jump when we hear thunder because it might not be thunder."
Diplomatic scramble
The Defence Ministries of both nations will meet under an extraordinary GBC format in Nakhon Ratchasima on 27 Dec. Thai negotiators want a verified pull-back of heavy weapons at least 15 km from the demarcation line. Phnom Penh is expected to demand that Thailand stop targeting what it calls "civilian infrastructure". Previous GBC sessions have produced text but seldom enforcement; observers say this round carries extra weight because ASEAN investors fear a hit to the eastern economic corridor that powers much of Thailand’s export rebound.
What Thai residents should watch
– Keep travel within Aranyaprathet, Ta Phraya, Watthana Nakhon and Khun Han districts essential-only until further notice.– Monitor the Thai Meteorological Department’s warning channel, which now relays conflict alerts alongside weather bulletins.– Expect possible fuel-rationing near the frontier as the Army prioritises logistics convoys.
The road ahead
Whether December’s shells mark the start of a larger conflict or a hard-nosed negotiating tactic will hinge on the coming week’s diplomacy. For people on the Thai side of the border the concern is immediate: safety, livelihoods, and a crossing that has long served as a pressure valve for both economies. Until guns fall silent, the best hope lies in generals and diplomats rediscovering the quiet art of compromise—and in the meantime, ordinary Thais will continue to listen for sounds that let them know when it is safe to reopen shop.
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