Mr. Sims, the anti-trafficking expert, estimates that the revenue generated from these operations in Cambodia could exceed $12 billion a year, representing about a third of the country's gross domestic product.
The United States and rights groups have criticized the Cambodian government for complicity in the industry. But the international community, including Washington, has said little about the Thai airstrikes. This, the Thai military has suggested, was tacit approval from governments struggling with an industry that has looted many of its citizens.
Airstrikes against scam centers (which are themselves staffed largely by forced labor). It seems disproportionate, though apparently scam operations make up more than a third of Cambodia's GDP. So perhaps these scam operations are a sort of critical infrastructure…