BANGKOK, Oct 21 – Scam syndicates have reportedly installed internet cables from Thailand’s Mukdahan province across the river into Laos, to deceive Thai citizens into thinking they were speaking with local businesses.

Bangkok Post reported that the scheme was discovered yesterday, and the cables have since been cut by the Thailand National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).

"NBTC officials used specialised equipment to examine the cables and found that they carried internet services about five kilometres deep into Lao soil.

"The internet service reached a big business district. It could cater to about 10,000 users at a time,” its commissioner Pol Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn was quoted saying.

The report said the cables were strung across the Second Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge between Mukdahan and Savannakhet provinces.

It also said that officials have previously found illegal internet cables at border crossings and rivers, but this is the first case involving a bridge.