Recently, the astonishing shady stories of fraudulent groups in Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar’s KK Park have been exposed. Many Taiwanese who have gone to the local area have been victimized, and Hong Kong people who are suspected of traveling or working in Southeast Asia are believed to be imprisoned overseas. The situation is becoming more and more worrying.
In fact, in recent years, many special economic zones in the Mekong River region have gradually become channels for large-scale human trafficking in response to various factors such as economic development and transformation under the ban on gambling in many countries, the new crown epidemic, and have already attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies in many countries. .
In the past few years, many Southeast Asian countries have established Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to attract foreign investment in order to vigorously develop their economies. Especially under the huge attraction of China's Belt and Road Initiative, countries are also eager to get a share of the pie; Among them, Cambodia and Laos are the countries that responded positively.
However, at the same time as the economy took off, these special economic zones have gradually emerged many disadvantages, including the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (also known as Westport) established in Sihanoukville, the second largest city in Cambodia, and the border city of Pakistan. Bavet and Poipet; Myawaddy, Mong La and Shwe Kokko in Kayin State, Myanmar; and the Golden Triangle Special on the Laos border Economic Zone) such as Bokeo and Vientiane, the capital.
Many SEZs in Southeast Asia, including Westport, are suffering from many ills under the epidemic.
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The notorious "KK Park" is located in Myawaddy, eastern Myanmar, which is an emerging special economic zone in Myanmar.
In 2019, the "Gaming Law" passed by Myanmar attracted many Chinese capital to set up local casinos, becoming another concentration of emerging fraud groups in the country outside the northern region of Myanmar.
It is known that the cost of living in Myawaddy is lower than that of northern Myanmar, so many fraudulent groups have successively entered the local area since this year.
For years, these SEZs have relied on casinos and online gaming as their main source of income.
Since these areas are designated as loosely regulated industrial parks by the authorities and have one-stop tax offices to stimulate overseas investment, they are prone to become "extra-legal enclaves" controlled by private companies and gangster forces. Relevant authorities are also unwilling or unable to supervise, so various illegal activities such as fraud and human trafficking flourish.
With the ban on gambling in China, the Philippines, Cambodia and other countries in recent years, coupled with the "Card Break Operation" launched by the State Council of China in 2020, more than 600 Chinese suspects involved in cross-border gambling were arrested and successfully blocked trillions of yuan. The exodus, as well as the disruption of travel restrictions amid the pandemic, especially from Chinese tourists, have led to a slump in revenue for these casinos.
The shrinking gaming industry in Asian countries has led to a devastating blow to the economic development of these special economic zones. For example, about half of the brick-and-mortar casinos in Westport have also closed, and the domestic gambling industry has lost 90% of its revenue.
01Interview│Five Hong Kong people transited through Thailand to be rescued in Myanmar, the target of the electrical fraud group is becoming internationalized, and the Myanmar fraud investigation 1｜Three Hong Kong people were resold and exposed, witnessing the shooting of the Chinese embassy to confess to the rescue of Cambodia's fraud case KK Park arrested Chinese businessmen The bottom rural boy took 40,000 to the Philippines for 2 years to become a rich businessman
In the past, many SEZs used the gaming industry as the main source of income, and mainly Chinese guests and funds.
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The second transformation after "gambling and cheating" has a wider impact
With the decline of the gaming industry, these cities inevitably fall into idling, with a large number of construction halted and the population withdrawing one after another.
As a result, many special economic zones turned to online frauds that also operated online and made higher profits to compensate for economic losses, and gradually transformed into a combination of fraudulent feelings and money, and even sold people as trading goods, forming a Mekong River Special Economic Zone and The complex industrial chain of Internet fraud and human trafficking is intertwined, and many funds, forces, gangs, and criminals from different regions are involved.
Although these fraudulent groups are located in many countries in Southeast Asia, they are mainly concentrated in places that are not easy to be smashed, such as the Sihanoukville Special Administrative Region in Cambodia or the KK Park in Myanmar. It was carried out blatantly.
In the early days, these fraudulent groups mainly targeted people from mainland China, and there were even rumors of Chinese citizens being deceived into Cambodia, asking to engage in fraudulent activities, or even becoming "blood slaves".
However, at the beginning of last year, China's "big return campaign" may have opened the prelude to the recent shift in the target of fraud.
At that time, under the pretext of cracking down on fraud crimes, the governments of various parts of China successively issued the "Notice of Persuading Persons Detained in Northern Myanmar to Return". If the country surrenders, the account will be cancelled, the bank account will be frozen, and family members and relatives will also be implicated, including school enrollment, employment, salary, bank account, etc., all face punishment.
One year after the launch of the relevant operation, the authorities have persuaded 54,000 fraudsters from northern Myanmar to return, and the relevant operation is still going on.
On the other hand, the mainland government is also actively cracking down on electronic fraud, educating the public not to be fooled, and trying to prevent citizens from going to Southeast Asia to engage in fraudulent work.
Demystifying Northern Myanmar Electricity Scam: China's "Great Persuasion to Return" Can Smash Electricity Scam Paradise?
Chinese tourists and funds have been hampered under the epidemic, which has severely hit the China-led Southeast Asian economy.
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Since most of the fraudulent groups were Chinese gold owners in the past, they also relied on a large number of Chinese employees for support.
When the "Great Persuasion to Return" created a large manpower gap, these groups began to target Taiwanese and Malaysian Chinese who also spoke Chinese as recruits. Among them, Thais and Indonesians were also deceived into the local area.
Recently, international rescue organizations that have been concerned about the incident have pointed out that the fraud group has recently become international, and has begun to recruit people from Hong Kong, Singapore, and even people from Africa and India, and has shifted the fraud market to the English-speaking population.
Not only that, some fraudulent groups are also involved in illegal activities such as human trafficking, and even horrific cases of live organ harvesting have been reported.
Today, the situation of human trafficking in Southeast Asia is getting worse, and it has been reflected in the 2022 Human Trafficking Report released by the US government in July this year.
Among them, Cambodia was downgraded to the lowest third tier.
“The gross human rights violations in these border casino cities and so-called ‘special economic zones’ require urgent government action,” said Phil Robertson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The scale of these actions and their impunity for rights violations The situation is a blatantly illegal, appalling and unacceptable indictment of the dictatorships prevalent in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and elsewhere.”
Some special economic zones have been turned into "extrajudicial places" by criminal groups, operating online scams, human trafficking and other illegal activities.
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The epidemic and economic blow create criminals?
Apart from the above factors, the impact of the epidemic on the global economy including Southeast Asia may also be one of the contributing factors.
Many Southeast Asian countries, especially the Indochina Peninsula, where this incident is concentrated, have always been highly dependent on the Chinese market.
Since the epidemic, the economic development of these countries has been severely hit due to the interruption of tourists and funds from China, which has greatly affected the livelihood of workers in many industries, such as tourism, transportation, catering and retail.
Therefore, some people who are under financial constraints are recruited by fraudulent groups to assist them with high salaries, and it may be unavoidable to even join the fraudulent group to work.
Criminals are adapting their business models to the "new normal" in human trafficking, especially through the misuse of modern communication technologies, according to the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
"Traffickers may become more active and prey on people who are more vulnerable than before, as they have lost their source of income due to the various measures taken by countries," said Ilias Chatzis, head of the Office's Human Trafficking Section.
What's more, the living standard of the Indochina Peninsula is relatively low, the Chinese forces are huge, and there are many military leaders in some countries, the political forces are chaotic, and the law enforcement is difficult, which naturally helps the fraud group to survive.
Under the epidemic, many people in Southeast Asia have lost their incomes and livelihoods, especially tourism-related practitioners.
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It is worth noting that Southeast Asia has long been a major region for human trafficking.
According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index by the human rights organization Walk Free Foundation, as of 2016, more than 40.3 million people worldwide were "modern slaves", of which 71 percent were women.
The main forms of slavery are "forced marriage" and "forced labor". The Asia-Pacific and Africa regions have the largest distribution of slaves, and North Korea has the highest proportion of slave populations. The Asia-Pacific region has about 25 million people, accounting for 62% of the estimated global total. .
Among them, Thailand is the main destination for victims of trafficking in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, most of whom are forced to work in agriculture, food processing, fishing, tourism and entertainment, while Malaysia is the main destination for victims of Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam land.
This somewhat reflects the reason why many of the above-mentioned special economic zones are involved in human trafficking in addition to "gambling to cheating".
The issue of human trafficking has become more of a concern this year.
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Human trafficking is rampant because of higher profits…
According to the United Nations report, human trafficking is already the third largest international black industry after the drug and arms trade, and even has a tendency to surpass the latter two.
At present, human trafficking networks are all over the world, and there are transnational human trafficking crimes in 124 countries around the world, and at least 510 trafficking routes have been identified.
The reason for this is that human trafficking groups have severely exploited the basic human rights and freedoms of the victims, forcing them to do hard work for no pay.
Even if they don't work cooperatively, they can sell their bodies, such as persecuting women as prostitutes, resale to other illegal groups, or harvesting body organs.
This is far more than the online scams that scam groups have engaged in in the past.
Recently, in addition to Southeast Asia, there have also been many reports of human trafficking in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa and other countries.
At the beginning of this year, the war between Russia and Ukraine has already made all countries concerned that the situation of human trafficking will worsen, especially the Ukrainian refugees affected by the war.
A few days ago, the FBI also announced that more than 200 victims of human trafficking, including 84 children, as young as 11 years old, were rescued in a law enforcement operation across the United States.
Judging from the current development, human trafficking is likely to become a social issue that all countries in the world must pay close attention to. While countries strive to recover their economies, they should step up cooperation to combat the activities of these criminals, and strengthen the publication of related online fraud and human trafficking. information to the public to be vigilant against social precautions.
01Interview│Five Hong Kong people transited through Thailand to be rescued in Myanmar, the target of the electrical fraud group is becoming internationalized, and the Myanmar fraud investigation 1｜Three Hong Kong people were resold, exposed, witnessed the shooting of the Chinese embassy, confessed their difficulty, rescued Cambodian workers, and was resold to a 30-year-old Taiwanese in Myanmar The man said that the monthly salary of 40,000 packs of food and accommodation is "better than being a soldier"
