The rise of cyber-scam syndicates in Southeast Asia constitutes a global crisis. TheStarsHub and The New York Times recently ran exposés on these operations, which extract billions of dollars from victims across the world, often through cryptocurrency. One type of cyber-scam, the “pig butchering scam” – shazhupan in Mandarin Chinese – involves the grooming of … Read more
The United States, United Kingdom, and Canada have imposed coordinated sanctions against 14 individuals and entities for their involvement in Southeast Asia’s monstrous online scamming industry. According to a statement from the U.K. government on Friday, the sanctions target nine individuals and five entities for their involvement in human trafficking connected to online “scam farms” … Read more
Buoyed by the tacit approval of China, the resistance in Myanmar is rapidly gaining ground. The ruling military government gambled on protecting the interests of Chinese crime groups over the Chinese state and appears to have overplayed its hand. Beijing is at the end of its tether. By pledging to help law enforcement shut down … Read more
Authorities in Laos have deported 462 Chinese nationals suspected of committing crimes including human trafficking, the latest sign of a sweeping regional crackdown on cyber-scam operations. Yesterday, Radio Free Asia (RFA)’s Lao-language service reported that the Chinese citizens were arrested on November 28 during a raid in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ) in … Read more
More than 250 Thai nationals trapped in northern Myanmar by fighting between the military junta and ethnic resistance groups were scheduled to return to Thailand yesterday after being evacuated via China, according to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to a Bangkok Post report, the ministry said that a group of around 260 Thais … Read more
Advertisement China is restricting the movement of people in border regions of Yunnan province in a bid to combat the rampant telecom fraud committed by Chinese nationals in remote, rebel-occupied regions of Myanmar. The Chinese media outlet Caixin reported last week that the Chinese authorities have set up a “strict border control zone” in the … Read more
Advertisement Mainland Southeast Asia once ranked among the top tourist regions in the world, bolstering economies and employing millions, but a rot set in with the rise of authoritarian regimes and a preference for Chinese currency over and above all others. COVID-19 dealt the final blow, as the Chinese visitors evacuated and governments were left … Read more
Advertisement Yesterday, the United Nations Office and Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a report that adds the small but growing corpus of literature on the cancerous cyber-scam operations that continue to metastasize across mainland Southeast Asia. The UNODC report shines a light on the region-wide wave of digital criminality that has arisen in the Mekong … Read more
A lion statue flanking the entrance of the Kings Romans Casino in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, northwest Laos, March 18, 2016. Credit: Sebastian Strangio Advertisement Hundreds of thousands of people are being trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centers and other illegal online operations that have sprung up across … Read more