China boasts of crackdown on scam centres on Myanmar border
BEIJING: Chinese authorities have hailed a sweeping crackdown on scam compounds operating along the country’s southern border with Myanmar, just days before a key political meeting in Beijing.
Government statements released since Wednesday said more than 57,000 Chinese nationals have been arrested for alleged involvement in cross-border fraud, with officials detailing accounts of torture and murder inside the criminal compounds.
An AFP investigation published earlier this week found that despite Beijing’s efforts, many of the scam operations remain active and expanding, particularly in Myanmar and Thailand.
SCAM COMPOUNDS STILL OPERATING
Satellite images and drone footage reviewed by AFP showed intensive construction work inside heavily fortified areas around Myawaddy, a Myanmar border town opposite Thailand.
Many of the compounds appeared to be using Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, allowing large-scale online operations to continue despite the crackdown.
Many victims are trafficked or lured by fake job offers and are forced to work long hours running global phone and internet scams that extract billions of dollars from people worldwide. Some workers reportedly joined voluntarily.
Experts say the centres, infamous for romance scams and “pig butchering” investment cons, are largely controlled by Chinese-led crime syndicates in cooperation with Myanmar militias in the lawless Golden Triangle region.
CHINA REPORTS ARRESTS AND TRIALS
China’s Ministry of Public Security said that the latest arrests and trials were part of a campaign to dismantle long-running cyberfraud networks.
In September, a court held a hearing against Xu Faqi, a gang leader accused of running 14 scam centres in Myanmar’s Kokang region and overseeing a 400-man militia that beat and killed workers who failed to meet fraud targets.
The ministry added that members of another prominent network, known as the Wei family, have also been indicted and will face trial soon.
'VIOLENCE AND BRUTALITY EVERYWHERE'
“Violence and brutality were everywhere in the cyber fraud complex,” the ministry said of the Wei-run operations in Kokang.
Authorities said victims were confined in “dog cages” and subjected to beatings, nail pulling, finger chopping and shootings as punishment.
The ministry described the perpetrators as having “hands stained with the blood of the Chinese people.”
Officials said the revelations have dominated Chinese social media this week, sparking widespread debate about the country’s handling of overseas fraud and human trafficking.
