11 ms·

Myanmar’s proliferating scam centers

146 points by WaitWaitWha 1y ago

jacknews 1y ago
These might be features of large scale purpose-built scam centers, but there are myriad smaller centers occupying apartment blocks, whole floors of office towers, and of course ex-Casino buildings and so on. eg Cambodia is especially rife with these. There are so many recently-built apartment blocks that lie empty, often built with corrupt money anyway, they make easy and fairly low-key dens.
30minAdayHN 1y ago
I always thought that people willfully participate in scams to make more money. For example, I know there are quite a few telephone scam centers in India, that call US folks for SSN fraud etc. I thought these folks just work for salary. It's scary to look at the scale of 'organized' crime / modern slavery. This is almost like Squid Games.
- herbst 1y ago
  To my understanding this also was the common reality no 5 years ago.
- kayxspre 1y ago
  Three months ago there is a report that 119 Thai citizens were deported from Cambodia after a call center ring was busted. Out of these numbers, 100 willfully worked for the ring. 15 worked for the illegal gambling establishment. Only 4 minors are reportedly the victim of human trafficking. Ironically, when those people came back (willfully or otherwise), they will claim that they were being "misled" or "coerced" to do it even though the evidence suggests that they willfully do so. Thai authorities are trying to combat this issue by cutting off supply of basic utilities (electricity, network connection) to hinder their work. The government claimed that this reduces the volume of scam attempts by 20%, though it's not entirely gone as long as they can find a way to circumvent it
  - Muromec 1y ago
    Kidnapping Indian and Chinese residents for their languages skills is pretty documented. That's more of a Shan states thing than Cambodia
  - pavel_lishin 1y ago
    Is that irony?
    - cutemonster 1y ago
      They're writing about a different country: Cambodia, not Myanmar
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    > Out of these numbers, 100 willfully worked for the ring. 15 worked for the illegal gambling establishment. Only 4 minors are reportedly the victim of human trafficking. Ironically, when those people came back (willfully or otherwise), they will claim that they were being "misled" or "coerced" to do it even though the evidence suggests that they willfully do so. Exactly. Same as when prostitutes get picked up. They say they're trafficked or coerced to get a lighter sentence. Cops love it because they get to act like they're on the tail of serious crime and get more resources. Win-win at the expense of everyone else.
    - craftkiller 1y ago
      While I don't doubt that happens, the article shows complexes surrounded by walls and numerous guard towers. I think it is safe to assume that most of the people inside these facilities are not there voluntarily.
      - cutemonster 1y ago
        > deported from Cambodia GP commented about Cambodia, but the article is about Myanmar. Maybe that can explain the difference. (If slavery is more prevalent in Myanmar)
dddddaviddddd 1y ago
I was looking at the Wikipedia article for the "Global Organized Crime Index" today, and Myanmar is #1, above Colombia and Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Organized_Crime_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Organized_Crime_Index
- v3ss0n 1y ago
  We are pretty much done now , due to coup, the junta's involvement in scam gangs and anti junta revolution civil war in full swing. Not just scam gangs, the thugs collaborative with military,kidnap and sell youths to junta for 1. Forced military drafting. 2. Human trafficking 3. Organ harvesting . That what military dictatorship done to our democractic country within 5 years.
- Muromec 1y ago
  The country is having a civil war for the last 60 years and was under sanctions until something like 2015. What else would anybody expect to be happening besides this, whoring in nearby Thailand and genociding minorities?
  - v3ss0n 1y ago
    The scam centers started around 2017. They are stared in collaboration with BFG which is under command of Military. 60 year cilvil war is nothing compare to current Revoultionary war where due to military coup and 90% of people are against Military and youth formed alliances called PDF , and getting arms , miltiary training , fighting back to restore the country's democracy and rule of law. But during that , Rule of Law is totally diminished and we are under rise of crime. The military regime allow the scams center to free roam and let the thugs to do what they want to create unrest.
    - Muromec 1y ago
      It wasn't sunshine and rainbows before 2017 either, right? I lived across the mountain ridge and saw your compatriots working in Thailand and I wish your country all the best. Nobody deserves such fate.
t24o234234234 1y ago
[flagged]
- mschuster91 1y ago
  > The Eastern Indian state of West Bengal has a similar complex, where all the international scam-calls targeting English-speaking nations originate. Yup. But - as much as I love to dunk on India for not doing anything on a federal level to combat the scammers - it's not exclusively India that's got issues with running scam callcenters. The Philippines are a hotspot as well [1], and Turkey is also ramping up [2] although their scammers mostly target Germany [3] as there is a sizable Turkish-origin diaspora here and a lot of Turks speak decent-enough German. [1] https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/afp-partners-philippine-authorities-combating-scam-call-centres https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/afp-partner... [2] https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/turkiye-to-contain-fraud-will-they-be-effective/ https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/turkiye-to-contain-fra... [3] https://www.dailysabah.com/turkiye/istanbul-police-uncover-international-scam-targeting-elderly-germans/news https://www.dailysabah.com/turkiye/istanbul-police-uncover-i...
kragen 1y ago
Will AI take their jobs? This seems like what current LLMs would be best at.
- swarnie 1y ago
  That's a really tough call, what sets off your internal "Scam alert" more, a thick Indian accent from a busy call centre or a TikTok robot voice?
  - willvarfar 1y ago
    As genuine customer service migrates to robots, it may change expectations as to what sounds legitimate? So in the future the genuine human ringing you up would smell like a scam whereas the genuine robot will have weight - irregardless of its legitimacy?
  - swores 1y ago
    The best AI voice generation is already much more realistic than the typical TikTok robotic voices, and they're only going to get better. It won't be long before the only reason anyone will generate artificial voices that are obviously fake will be choice, not tool limitations.
  - Incipient 1y ago
    The tiktok robot voice is deliberate I believe, it's branding. It's not a limitation of technology.
  - Cthulhu_ 1y ago
    The tiktok robot voice is old news, they can do realistic-enough human-like voices now, with verbal tics and everything.
- djaychela 1y ago
  From what I've read, the cost of an llm would be greater than the current operators who are effectively enslaved. If it were cheaper then possibly - certainly easier to manage than people who would try to escape their dire situation here.
charlysl 1y ago
Here is a good documentary about these scam centers, where some management staff even openly admit what is going on there: https://youtu.be/kSNn2pHtRH4?si=6WAbOG4p6bd80dJ8 https://youtu.be/kSNn2pHtRH4?si=6WAbOG4p6bd80dJ8
gkanai 1y ago
Japan should qualify any future ODA to Myanmar requires the junta goes in and breaks up these scam centers and put the scam owners in jail.
- Muromec 1y ago
  The junta isn't even controlling the part of the country where it happens. It also has funny geography which explains why they don't
  - red-iron-pine 1y ago
    short version: lotta mountains and jungles
- thephyber 1y ago
  Myanmar is a failed state. The Junta doesn’t have sufficient control of the country to enforce the warlord regions where these scam-cities have sprung up.
throwaway48476 1y ago
Scams will not end until all international transactions are insured and reversible.
- reliabilityguy 1y ago
  Plenty of transactions used in scams are irreversible.
  - bigfishrunning 1y ago
    exactly, and gp is saying as long as these transactions exist then scams will exist
- thephyber 1y ago
  Scams will always exist, so long as there are things of value and humans are involved. See different unofficial currencies used in prisons. When it comes to scams, part of the scam is aiding the victim to making a transaction in a way that can’t be reversed. Cryptocurrencies, call cards, gift cards, even in-game currencies for online games. As long as it is liquid and carries a value, some entrepreneurial scammer will try to use it to increase their profit. Official currency transfer channels (banks, remittance centers) are usually the focus of laws and law enforcement, so scammers know to move to other forms of value. Cut-outs and fences are common in many forms of scams because these are tools that help them avoid the banking systems until the scammed value is laundered.
rft 1y ago
There was a talk on the last CCC that covered romance scams from "call centers" in similar conditions in Myanmar. It gives some insights into the daily life from the perspective of someone who managed to flee the compound and take some documents with him. I was very surprised at the level of sophistication and organization that went into this scam. I knew about the tech support scam centers, but I still saw romance scam as something done on the individual level, not fully organized. Talk is in German, but dubbed into English by the community. https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-erpressung-aus-dem-internet-auf-den-spuren-der-cybermafia https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-erpressung-aus-dem-internet-auf-...
- Muromec 1y ago
  Romance scams of the mail order bride variety were pretty orginized, but not that sophisticated about 10-15 years ago in where I'm from. Was mostly a quick cash opportunity for studends of language faculties that had moral complex lax enough to scam people, but not lax enough to do outright prostitution.
  - brookst 1y ago
    Prostitution seems much more moral than scamming people. Charge for service, provide service. I certainly have far more respect for sex workers than thieves / scammers.
    - skeeter2020 1y ago
      This is too simple of a take. The vast majority of prostitutes are not adult, willing, un-coerced independent contractors who take a short-term engagement. The money is made by the drug-supplying pimps and organizations that groom minors or prey on people who have no other way to support their habit. This is not moral and very different from the theoretical concept of prostitution.
      - djrj477dhsnv 1y ago
        That's not true in my experience. I've had friends who worked in or adjacent to the industry in several countries. While there are obviously significant numbers of minors involved and some workers forced into it, the majority are not. Most are just struggling financially and trying to support themselves and/or families. Many are single moms. Many well over 18.
55555 1y ago
This is about to get way worse with AI. They'll be able to call you, say nothing, you'll answer, "hello?" and then hang up and by then they've cloned your voice and left a message on your parents' answering machine that sounds like you begging for them to transfer money because you're in danger. They'll be video calling everybody on linkedin with a job in accounting and will have the face and voice of their boss, asking them to transfer money. The situation is about to be terrible, and the only thing keeping it remotely in check is that most people choose to be somewhat moral.
- Cthulhu_ 1y ago
  This is also the danger with these - apparent - AI meeting attendant bots being a thing now; organizations should ban them wholesale, as if they're unknown / unauthorised 3rd party ones, who knows what they'll do with the voice data of e.g. the boss.
- Muromec 1y ago
  The time to make money on e-hanko usable for everything is now.
- sealeck 1y ago
  Yes and no; there is a tipping point, past which hardware/software vendors will be forced to adopt countermeasures and new ways to verify identity. We will lose a lot though; the most prosperous societies really rely on high levels of interpersonal trust (which allows people to easily do things together, whether that's leaving their buggy outside when they go to buy a coffee or commercial relations). It would be a shame to see that get destroyed.
  - red-iron-pine 1y ago
    why would countermeasures destroy trust? if everyone's phone had an actual keyword and key and other details wouldn't that increase trust? I get a call and there is a green checkmark saying "GPG VEIFIED" and then I know it's who I expect.
    - 1y ago
tonyhart7 1y ago
they also kidnap people at neighbour country so if you travel alone at this area, be safe and stay with crowd in public area
otikik 1y ago
It's a bit of a shame that the article is written only from the Japanese perspective. I would have been more interested in knowing China's position over this whole affair. Given that: - The original investors were Chinese - The video footage shown is hosted on a Chinese platform - The signage on the videos for "restaurants" and "hospitals" in the videos is in Chinese - "A Chinese-style drum would echo through the compound each time a deposit of over $100,000 was received" And the fact that Thailand receives a great deal of Chinese tourists, I expect at least some of the kidnappings affecting Chinese citizens - and then some of the scam victims to be Chinese as well. I would expect China to be more affected and to able to exert more influence over this situation than Japan.
- decimalenough 1y ago
  China is very affected and has been tightening the screws hard. The situation really blew up when a Chinese actor was lured to Thailand, kidnapped across the border and forced to work in a scam center: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Wang_Xing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Wang_Xing There was even a Chinese blockbuster movie about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets But the scammer choose lawless places like Myanmar for a reason and while China can exert pressure on individual bigwigs, they can't stop those small enough to fly under the radar.
  - otikik 1y ago
    Thanks for the update! Your post would make a great addition to the article.
  - PicassoCTs 1y ago
    China has the same culture- and the same scamming problematic. Its like a bigger mafiosi promising to solve crime and restore order by sending a lowlevel thief to the fishes. Low-thrust societies can not be repaired by topdown level commands. All that happens, is yet another paint job, another face restoring measurement, while the rot behind remains the same.This is not some "aberration" from the fringe of the Chinese empire- this right here, is a sample of its core values under the CCP, undiluted by propaganda cosmetics.
booleandilemma 1y ago
There's a Chinese movie that has a plot which revolves around this: No More Bets The Southeast Asian country it's supposed to take place in isn't explicitly named, but Myanmar, Cambodia, and Thailand were critical of the movie anyway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets.
jjani 1y ago
No mention of Starlink, which they have adopted en masse. It would be trivial to shut them off from it given their locations are very well-known.
- red-iron-pine 1y ago
  capitalism gotta get that capital, mate. myanmar war money is just as good as rural homesteader money
  - jjani 1y ago
    Straight from the Meta playbook. Rohingya? Is that the new bazinga? Us!? Complicit!? Yeah right, hah, we're just a social network dude give us a break smh
apwell23 1y ago
lot of men from kerala india get caught in these scams. sucks that indian govt isn't doing anything about kidnapping of their citizens. I used to think of Myanmar as soft spoken Buddhist people with slow pace of life. now of think of the country as a 'scam central'.

146 points by WaitWaitWha 1y ago

These might be features of large scale purpose-built scam centers, but there are myriad smaller centers occupying apartment blocks, whole floors of office towers, and of course ex-Casino buildings and so on. eg Cambodia is especially rife with these. There are so many recently-built apartment blocks that lie empty, often built with corrupt money anyway, they make easy and fairly low-key dens.

30minAdayHN 1y ago

I always thought that people willfully participate in scams to make more money. For example, I know there are quite a few telephone scam centers in India, that call US folks for SSN fraud etc. I thought these folks just work for salary. It's scary to look at the scale of 'organized' crime / modern slavery. This is almost like Squid Games.

herbst 1y ago
To my understanding this also was the common reality no 5 years ago.
kayxspre 1y ago
Three months ago there is a report that 119 Thai citizens were deported from Cambodia after a call center ring was busted. Out of these numbers, 100 willfully worked for the ring. 15 worked for the illegal gambling establishment. Only 4 minors are reportedly the victim of human trafficking. Ironically, when those people came back (willfully or otherwise), they will claim that they were being "misled" or "coerced" to do it even though the evidence suggests that they willfully do so. Thai authorities are trying to combat this issue by cutting off supply of basic utilities (electricity, network connection) to hinder their work. The government claimed that this reduces the volume of scam attempts by 20%, though it's not entirely gone as long as they can find a way to circumvent it
- Muromec 1y ago
  Kidnapping Indian and Chinese residents for their languages skills is pretty documented. That's more of a Shan states thing than Cambodia
- pavel_lishin 1y ago
  Is that irony?
  - cutemonster 1y ago
    They're writing about a different country: Cambodia, not Myanmar
- potato3732842 1y ago
  > Out of these numbers, 100 willfully worked for the ring. 15 worked for the illegal gambling establishment. Only 4 minors are reportedly the victim of human trafficking. Ironically, when those people came back (willfully or otherwise), they will claim that they were being "misled" or "coerced" to do it even though the evidence suggests that they willfully do so. Exactly. Same as when prostitutes get picked up. They say they're trafficked or coerced to get a lighter sentence. Cops love it because they get to act like they're on the tail of serious crime and get more resources. Win-win at the expense of everyone else.
  - craftkiller 1y ago
    While I don't doubt that happens, the article shows complexes surrounded by walls and numerous guard towers. I think it is safe to assume that most of the people inside these facilities are not there voluntarily.
    - cutemonster 1y ago
      > deported from Cambodia GP commented about Cambodia, but the article is about Myanmar. Maybe that can explain the difference. (If slavery is more prevalent in Myanmar)

dddddaviddddd 1y ago

I was looking at the Wikipedia article for the "Global Organized Crime Index" today, and Myanmar is #1, above Colombia and Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Organized_Crime_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Organized_Crime_Index

v3ss0n 1y ago
We are pretty much done now , due to coup, the junta's involvement in scam gangs and anti junta revolution civil war in full swing. Not just scam gangs, the thugs collaborative with military,kidnap and sell youths to junta for 1. Forced military drafting. 2. Human trafficking 3. Organ harvesting . That what military dictatorship done to our democractic country within 5 years.
Muromec 1y ago
The country is having a civil war for the last 60 years and was under sanctions until something like 2015. What else would anybody expect to be happening besides this, whoring in nearby Thailand and genociding minorities?
- v3ss0n 1y ago
  The scam centers started around 2017. They are stared in collaboration with BFG which is under command of Military. 60 year cilvil war is nothing compare to current Revoultionary war where due to military coup and 90% of people are against Military and youth formed alliances called PDF , and getting arms , miltiary training , fighting back to restore the country's democracy and rule of law. But during that , Rule of Law is totally diminished and we are under rise of crime. The military regime allow the scams center to free roam and let the thugs to do what they want to create unrest.
  - Muromec 1y ago
    It wasn't sunshine and rainbows before 2017 either, right? I lived across the mountain ridge and saw your compatriots working in Thailand and I wish your country all the best. Nobody deserves such fate.

t24o234234234 1y ago

[flagged]

mschuster91 1y ago
> The Eastern Indian state of West Bengal has a similar complex, where all the international scam-calls targeting English-speaking nations originate. Yup. But - as much as I love to dunk on India for not doing anything on a federal level to combat the scammers - it's not exclusively India that's got issues with running scam callcenters. The Philippines are a hotspot as well [1], and Turkey is also ramping up [2] although their scammers mostly target Germany [3] as there is a sizable Turkish-origin diaspora here and a lot of Turks speak decent-enough German. [1] https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/afp-partners-philippine-authorities-combating-scam-call-centres https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/afp-partner... [2] https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/turkiye-to-contain-fraud-will-they-be-effective/ https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/turkiye-to-contain-fra... [3] https://www.dailysabah.com/turkiye/istanbul-police-uncover-international-scam-targeting-elderly-germans/news https://www.dailysabah.com/turkiye/istanbul-police-uncover-i...

kragen 1y ago

Will AI take their jobs? This seems like what current LLMs would be best at.

swarnie 1y ago
That's a really tough call, what sets off your internal "Scam alert" more, a thick Indian accent from a busy call centre or a TikTok robot voice?
- willvarfar 1y ago
  As genuine customer service migrates to robots, it may change expectations as to what sounds legitimate? So in the future the genuine human ringing you up would smell like a scam whereas the genuine robot will have weight - irregardless of its legitimacy?
- swores 1y ago
  The best AI voice generation is already much more realistic than the typical TikTok robotic voices, and they're only going to get better. It won't be long before the only reason anyone will generate artificial voices that are obviously fake will be choice, not tool limitations.
- Incipient 1y ago
  The tiktok robot voice is deliberate I believe, it's branding. It's not a limitation of technology.
- Cthulhu_ 1y ago
  The tiktok robot voice is old news, they can do realistic-enough human-like voices now, with verbal tics and everything.
djaychela 1y ago
From what I've read, the cost of an llm would be greater than the current operators who are effectively enslaved. If it were cheaper then possibly - certainly easier to manage than people who would try to escape their dire situation here.

charlysl 1y ago

Here is a good documentary about these scam centers, where some management staff even openly admit what is going on there: https://youtu.be/kSNn2pHtRH4?si=6WAbOG4p6bd80dJ8 https://youtu.be/kSNn2pHtRH4?si=6WAbOG4p6bd80dJ8

gkanai 1y ago

Japan should qualify any future ODA to Myanmar requires the junta goes in and breaks up these scam centers and put the scam owners in jail.

Muromec 1y ago
The junta isn't even controlling the part of the country where it happens. It also has funny geography which explains why they don't
- red-iron-pine 1y ago
  short version: lotta mountains and jungles
thephyber 1y ago
Myanmar is a failed state. The Junta doesn’t have sufficient control of the country to enforce the warlord regions where these scam-cities have sprung up.

throwaway48476 1y ago

Scams will not end until all international transactions are insured and reversible.

reliabilityguy 1y ago
Plenty of transactions used in scams are irreversible.
- bigfishrunning 1y ago
  exactly, and gp is saying as long as these transactions exist then scams will exist
thephyber 1y ago
Scams will always exist, so long as there are things of value and humans are involved. See different unofficial currencies used in prisons. When it comes to scams, part of the scam is aiding the victim to making a transaction in a way that can’t be reversed. Cryptocurrencies, call cards, gift cards, even in-game currencies for online games. As long as it is liquid and carries a value, some entrepreneurial scammer will try to use it to increase their profit. Official currency transfer channels (banks, remittance centers) are usually the focus of laws and law enforcement, so scammers know to move to other forms of value. Cut-outs and fences are common in many forms of scams because these are tools that help them avoid the banking systems until the scammed value is laundered.

rft 1y ago

There was a talk on the last CCC that covered romance scams from "call centers" in similar conditions in Myanmar. It gives some insights into the daily life from the perspective of someone who managed to flee the compound and take some documents with him. I was very surprised at the level of sophistication and organization that went into this scam. I knew about the tech support scam centers, but I still saw romance scam as something done on the individual level, not fully organized. Talk is in German, but dubbed into English by the community. https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-erpressung-aus-dem-internet-auf-den-spuren-der-cybermafia https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-erpressung-aus-dem-internet-auf-...

Muromec 1y ago
Romance scams of the mail order bride variety were pretty orginized, but not that sophisticated about 10-15 years ago in where I'm from. Was mostly a quick cash opportunity for studends of language faculties that had moral complex lax enough to scam people, but not lax enough to do outright prostitution.
- brookst 1y ago
  Prostitution seems much more moral than scamming people. Charge for service, provide service. I certainly have far more respect for sex workers than thieves / scammers.
  - skeeter2020 1y ago
    This is too simple of a take. The vast majority of prostitutes are not adult, willing, un-coerced independent contractors who take a short-term engagement. The money is made by the drug-supplying pimps and organizations that groom minors or prey on people who have no other way to support their habit. This is not moral and very different from the theoretical concept of prostitution.
    - djrj477dhsnv 1y ago
      That's not true in my experience. I've had friends who worked in or adjacent to the industry in several countries. While there are obviously significant numbers of minors involved and some workers forced into it, the majority are not. Most are just struggling financially and trying to support themselves and/or families. Many are single moms. Many well over 18.

55555 1y ago

This is about to get way worse with AI. They'll be able to call you, say nothing, you'll answer, "hello?" and then hang up and by then they've cloned your voice and left a message on your parents' answering machine that sounds like you begging for them to transfer money because you're in danger. They'll be video calling everybody on linkedin with a job in accounting and will have the face and voice of their boss, asking them to transfer money. The situation is about to be terrible, and the only thing keeping it remotely in check is that most people choose to be somewhat moral.

Cthulhu_ 1y ago
This is also the danger with these - apparent - AI meeting attendant bots being a thing now; organizations should ban them wholesale, as if they're unknown / unauthorised 3rd party ones, who knows what they'll do with the voice data of e.g. the boss.
Muromec 1y ago
The time to make money on e-hanko usable for everything is now.
sealeck 1y ago
Yes and no; there is a tipping point, past which hardware/software vendors will be forced to adopt countermeasures and new ways to verify identity. We will lose a lot though; the most prosperous societies really rely on high levels of interpersonal trust (which allows people to easily do things together, whether that's leaving their buggy outside when they go to buy a coffee or commercial relations). It would be a shame to see that get destroyed.
- red-iron-pine 1y ago
  why would countermeasures destroy trust? if everyone's phone had an actual keyword and key and other details wouldn't that increase trust? I get a call and there is a green checkmark saying "GPG VEIFIED" and then I know it's who I expect.
  - 1y ago

tonyhart7 1y ago

they also kidnap people at neighbour country so if you travel alone at this area, be safe and stay with crowd in public area

otikik 1y ago

It's a bit of a shame that the article is written only from the Japanese perspective. I would have been more interested in knowing China's position over this whole affair. Given that: - The original investors were Chinese - The video footage shown is hosted on a Chinese platform - The signage on the videos for "restaurants" and "hospitals" in the videos is in Chinese - "A Chinese-style drum would echo through the compound each time a deposit of over $100,000 was received" And the fact that Thailand receives a great deal of Chinese tourists, I expect at least some of the kidnappings affecting Chinese citizens - and then some of the scam victims to be Chinese as well. I would expect China to be more affected and to able to exert more influence over this situation than Japan.

decimalenough 1y ago
China is very affected and has been tightening the screws hard. The situation really blew up when a Chinese actor was lured to Thailand, kidnapped across the border and forced to work in a scam center: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Wang_Xing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Wang_Xing There was even a Chinese blockbuster movie about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets But the scammer choose lawless places like Myanmar for a reason and while China can exert pressure on individual bigwigs, they can't stop those small enough to fly under the radar.
- otikik 1y ago
  Thanks for the update! Your post would make a great addition to the article.
- PicassoCTs 1y ago
  China has the same culture- and the same scamming problematic. Its like a bigger mafiosi promising to solve crime and restore order by sending a lowlevel thief to the fishes. Low-thrust societies can not be repaired by topdown level commands. All that happens, is yet another paint job, another face restoring measurement, while the rot behind remains the same.This is not some "aberration" from the fringe of the Chinese empire- this right here, is a sample of its core values under the CCP, undiluted by propaganda cosmetics.

booleandilemma 1y ago

There's a Chinese movie that has a plot which revolves around this: No More Bets The Southeast Asian country it's supposed to take place in isn't explicitly named, but Myanmar, Cambodia, and Thailand were critical of the movie anyway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets.

jjani 1y ago

No mention of Starlink, which they have adopted en masse. It would be trivial to shut them off from it given their locations are very well-known.

red-iron-pine 1y ago
capitalism gotta get that capital, mate. myanmar war money is just as good as rural homesteader money
- jjani 1y ago
  Straight from the Meta playbook. Rohingya? Is that the new bazinga? Us!? Complicit!? Yeah right, hah, we're just a social network dude give us a break smh

apwell23 1y ago

lot of men from kerala india get caught in these scams. sucks that indian govt isn't doing anything about kidnapping of their citizens. I used to think of Myanmar as soft spoken Buddhist people with slow pace of life. now of think of the country as a 'scam central'.