Human trafficking and scam compounds are sowing further rifts within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after Laos effectively undermined attempts by Thailand to deny the criminal syndicates access to electricity supplies in Myanmar where they have flourished with impunity.

Thailand will suspend electricity supply to some border areas with Myanmar in an effort to curb scam centres, its government said on Tuesday, amid growing pressure on the illegal compounds that have ensnared vast numbers of people of multiple nationalities.

Thailand on Wednesday cut off power supplies to areas in Myanmar where scam networks operate, following a public outcry demanding government action to tackle the problem.

Thailand will cut off electricity, internet access and oil supplies to some areas in Myanmar suspected to house cyber scam operations, widening a crackdown after a high-profile trafficking of a Chinese actor put a spotlight on criminal activities across the Thai borders.

A team of doctors and nurses battled to revive Adabi, an 86-year-old Myanmar refugee fighting long-standing heart problems and pneumonia, as her daughter watched tearfully in a hospital in northwestern Thailand.

Thailand cut electricity supplies on Wednesday to several areas in neighboring Myanmar that are home to sites at the center of a global, billion-dollar online scam industry.

Thailand has cut electricity, internet and fuel supplies to five border areas in Myanmar, a senior Thai minister said on Wednesday, as the Southeast Asian nation steps up efforts to choke scam centres that have become a growing security concern.