New Delhi, April 8 -- I have often used the word industrial-scale in my own writing to describe the scam compounds that dot this region in Southeast Asia.

But the weight of that phrase truly sunk in at the O'Smach Resort complex that we visited on Tuesday. Thailand's military, which conducted a tour for the media, said that the whole area encompasses around 197 acres (80 hectares), equivalent to 150 American football fields.

It wasn't my first time at a scam center, but its scale dwarfed anything I had seen before.

From my base in the region, I have followed this issue for the past few years, watching its scale only grow larger and larger.

Scam compounds have mushroomed across Southeast Asia since the pandemic. Inside these industrial...