Smugglers become "walking money" and lose their way to northern Myanmar: violence, trafficking, extortion, and electronic fraud | Cambodia | Smugglers

When night falls, fireworks will be set off from time to time in the night sky of Mengbo, Wa State, Myanmar.

The longer it is set off, the more money will be obtained from a scam.

When Cheng Xiang, who works overseas, saw it for the first time, it was not surprising. However, seeing the fireworks consecutively made him curious. After his understanding, he learned that according to convention, as long as the scam was successful for orders over 500000 yuan, fireworks would be set off in the e-fraud park to celebrate. "You count the sounds, and if it's' bang, bang, bang, bang, bang 'five times in a row, that's a successful order of 500000 yuan.".

At Mohan Port in Xishuangbanna, after the opening of the China Laos Railway, many passengers left for Southeast Asia. All images in this article were taken by Mao Ming, a journalist from The Paper, except for those provided by the interviewees

At the same time, although there was a curfew from 8 pm to 5 am the next day, gunshots could still be heard from time to time on Guogan Old Street to the north of Wa State. A telecom fraud "expert" or "technical talent" can sell for 30 million yuan in Guogan, and the owners of the telecom fraud park will fight fiercely for talent. "Today's Guogan is even more terrifying than the past 'Golden Triangle'," said Hou Xian, who works at Guogan.

This is northern Myanmar, a breeding ground for telecommunications fraudsters. Since 2015, the Chinese police and law enforcement agencies of Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia have jointly cracked down on telecommunications fraud and online gambling, and have successively escorted some "backbone elements" back to their home countries for trial. Hundreds of thousands of telecommunications fraudsters from Cambodia and other places have scattered like birds and beasts, flocking to northern Myanmar. They are distributed from south to north in Miaowadi, Daqili, Wa State, Kokang, Mujie and other places on the Thai Myanmar border. The "three no's" zone here has given rise to one telecommunications fraud enterprise and fraud park after another.

Recently, Pengpai News went to the "Golden Triangle" area at the border of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos to conduct in-depth visits and investigations. Through multiple individuals who have worked or lived in northern Myanmar for a long time, they learned about the more concrete situation in northern Myanmar: hundreds of thousands of telecommunications fraudsters have illegally crossed the border and flocked to Chinese gathering areas in northern Myanmar, where they write Chinese, speak Mandarin, and use Chinese yuan. Normal passports are no longer able to travel to northern Myanmar. The cost of a border pass in northern Myanmar has increased from 200 yuan when it was first processed to 70000 yuan today. Moreover, the number of seats is limited and it is difficult to obtain one pass. In order to "make money quickly" and "make a fortune", more people take risks and sneak across the border.

From the moment they illegally crossed the border, they were like walking Chinese yuan. They went with a dream of becoming rich, and most people knew exactly what they were going to do before crossing the border. The ones who welcomed them would be sticks, belts, electric shocks, rape, water prisons, small black houses, forced prostitution, etc. "As long as they were under 30 years old, an ordinary person can sell for 20000 to 300000 yuan if they dare, and the boss who bought them is not afraid of losses. If they can't complete the task, they will call their family for money to redeem them," said Hou Xian.

The bosses of electronic fraud companies are mostly Chinese, mostly from a province in southeastern China. These bosses carry a large amount of funds, buying land to build houses, renting office space, investing in equipment, manpower, etc. The local armed forces share them in the form of shares and provide them with security protection.

At present, in the face of increasingly severe crackdowns from relevant departments such as the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, as well as the popularization of anti fraud apps, some members of the Myanmar North's fraud gangs have started to flee to Cambodia and other places, while others have targeted the Western world such as Japan, South Korea, Europe and America for fraud.

The Port of Boten in Laos is open for entry with a passport landing visa.

The core area of the "Golden Triangle"

Northern Myanmar generally refers to places such as Shan State and Kachin State, where various armed forces are intricate and intertwined.

In the infamous "KK Park" located in Miaowadi, eastern Myanmar, there are at least two powerful armed forces, namely the Karen Buddhist Army and the Karen Christian Army, also known as the Karen Border Defense Army and the Karen National Liberation Army, which have their own territories. The Karen Christian Army and the Burmese government army have been in constant conflict, while the Karen Buddhist Army has been incorporated into the Burmese army and has now become the local Karen Border Defense Army.

According to insiders, the "KK Park" is within the sphere of influence of the Karen Border Defense Army, which provides shelter for it. Just a week ago, the Karen Christian Army, Burmese government forces, and Karen Border Defense Army engaged in fierce fighting and repeated gunfights around the park.

In the Shuigou Valley of Miaowadi, "KK Park" is just one of the more well-known electricity fraud parks. In addition, there are nearly 20 parks such as Diamond Park, Fuli Park, Elephant Park, and Phoenix Park, all of which are companies engaged in electricity fraud. "Miaowadi is a small town with a maximum of around 300000 electricity fraud personnel, and there are still about 90000 people there to this day."

The Mekong Sai Port in Thailand connects to the neighboring Myanmar, Dachili.

Traveling north along the Thai Myanmar border from Miaowadi to the border between Thailand's Mekong Sai and Myanmar's Shan State Daqili, this is the core area of the "Golden Triangle", where former drug lords Kunsha and Nuokang have taken control. Although Daqili belongs to the sphere of influence of the Burmese government army, various militia groups are intertwined and are also one of the most unsafe areas in the "Golden Triangle" region today.

Starting from May 7th this year, the local government announced that Dachili will implement a "foreign travel restriction order", prohibiting any foreigner from visiting Dachili.

On August 5th, when a reporter from Pengpai News arrived at the Mekong Sai Port in Thailand, separated by a river from Myanmar's Daqili, the guardrails on both sides of the Mekong Sai Bridge were densely adorned with the flags of Thailand and Myanmar. In recent years, barbed wire fences have also been added, allowing entry into each other's territory by crossing a bridge deck about 100 meters long. Thailand drives on the left, while Myanmar drives on the right. Vehicles passing on both sides change lanes on the Meisai Bridge, resulting in frequent traffic congestion on the bridge deck. During the period of observation by the reporter, Thai and Burmese people shuttled back and forth, without seeing the faces of Chinese people.

Seemingly quiet and peaceful, but danger has always existed. In the past, when drugs were rampant in the "Golden Triangle", the area under the Meisai Bridge was once an open drug trading center. On February 8, 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy and Consulate in Myanmar issued two statements reminding Chinese citizens to beware of "luring high paying workers to Miaowadi, Mujie, and Daqili and forcing them to engage in illegal activities such as electronic fraud.".

On the evening of March 16, 2023, a female employee of a supermarket in Daqili was kidnapped by gunmen and shouted in Chinese, "I have two children, I can't go with you.". The widespread dissemination of videos on social media in China has attracted attention, and the embassy and consulate in Myanmar have also spoken out about it. In April 2023, the Chinese embassy and consulate in Myanmar rescued a Chinese citizen who was deceived into engaging in espionage activities in Dachili. He was beaten and detained, and his life safety was threatened.

It takes about half an hour by car from the Mekong Port to Chiang Seng Port in Thailand. When the Mekong River Massacre occurred, the body of a Chinese compatriot was found under a tree by the river not far from the Qingsheng Port. The culprit, Nuo Kang, was also arrested in Laos across from here and taken to Kunming for trial. From then on, cruise ships from China, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand set sail from Guanlei Port in Xishuangbanna every month and arrived here on a cruise.

The "Golden Triangle" transit port located at Chiang Seng Ferry Terminal in Thailand, crossing the Mekong River, is the "Golden Triangle" special zone in Laos. More than half of the people on board are Chinese.

Although no Chinese faces were seen at the Mekong Port from Thailand to Myanmar, more than half of the ships crossing the Mekong River between the two countries from Chiang Kai shek Port in Thailand to the Golden Triangle Special Zone in Laos are Chinese, with the majority speaking in Fujian, Hunan, Sichuan, and Northeast China. The reporter from Pengpai News learned that some of them come for tourism, some come to visit relatives and friends, and some come for job hunting. After crossing the border ports of Thailand or Laos in the "Golden Triangle", people they didn't know would inquire about their destinations and discuss carpooling together.

Further north, it belongs to the territory of Wa State in the second special zone of Shan State, Myanmar. Wa State is further divided into South Wa State and North Wa State, with the Wa State United Army dominating the territory. On the side of the bed, there is also the Shan Dong Alliance Army, which is highly autonomous and controls the Fourth Special Zone in the eastern part of Shan State.

Wa State has relatively good public security throughout northern Myanmar. "There are patrol cars serving as soldiers on the streets of the county town. If you fight, they will come over. If they come, you don't stop fighting, they will fight on both sides. If they come, you stop, and they usually bring a fine," said Hu Cheng, a resident of Fujian who runs a restaurant in Wa State. The Burmese describe it this way: "In Wa State, if you report to the police, at least someone will come, but if you dare to report to the police, no one will come."

According to a survey conducted by Pengpai News, even though the social security in Wa is relatively stable, the Wa government does not support the electricity fraud industry, but also tacitly approves of its existence. In a small town like Mengbo, which usually only has a population of three to four thousand and only one street, the number of electricity fraudsters can reach around 100000 at most, and the capital Bangkang is no exception. Electricity fraud parks have sprung up.

Multiple insiders told Pengpai News that companies in the Myanmar North Electricity Fraud Park have ethnic armed forces holding stakes behind them, and the two sides cooperate, dividing it into four to six or three to seven parts. For example, in the Wa state, the military usually holds 30% of the stakes.

The landmark of the Golden Triangle.

"From Cambodia to northern Myanmar"

In 2012, the Chinese police issued a wanted list, listing a man named She Zhijiang as an online fugitive who later operated in Southeast Asia as She Lunkai.

According to public reports, She Zhijiang was born in 1982 in a rural family in Shaodong, Hunan and grew up in the urban area of Guilin. In 1996, he studied tailoring with his aunt in Guilin and changed jobs over 20 years: driving agricultural vehicles, repairing motor vehicles, selling shampoo, working as a security guard, running a massage parlor, and doing direct sales. Later, he traveled to Cambodia and ventured into Southeast Asia to seek gold.

In 2017, She Zhijiang obtained Cambodian citizenship and changed his name to She Lunkai. This year, he collaborated with the Karen armed forces in the Myawady Special Zone of Karen State on the Thai Myanmar border to create the "Shuigou Valley Asia Pacific New City Economic Zone" project. This is the predecessor of the notorious electronic fraud "KK Park" mentioned earlier.

Thailand's Mekong Sai.

"The GDP of Sihanouk Port is supported by electricity fraud and online gambling," said a person who has long been concerned about the electricity fraud industry. She Zhijiang started his career by opening online gambling and was wanted for scamming and gambling with Chinese people.

According to the website of the Ministry of Public Security, 254 suspect of wire fraud were escorted back from Cambodia for the first time since November 2015, when the Ministry of Public Security deployed a special action to crack down on new types of illegal crimes in telecommunications networks. Since then, the number has been updated constantly. Every year, suspect of wire fraud have been escorted back from Cambodia by our public security organs. From May 2019 to September 2021, only the "509 Extraordinary Cross border Fraud Case" has captured 19000 suspect of wire fraud returning from Cambodia and other Southeast Asia.

In 2019, with the continuous deepening of cross-border cooperation between our public security organs and Cambodia, the electronic fraud industry and online gambling groups in Cambodia scattered like birds and animals. "It seems that Xigang was deserted overnight, and some people fled without even carrying the computers and other devices that committed the crime, which has affected the real estate industry in Xigang. Currently, a small number of electronic fraud groups are still active in Cambodia," the person mentioned above told Pengpai News.

At this point, She Zhijiang and his companions set their sights on the "Three No's" areas like the "Golden Triangle" Miaowady, and continued to plow the northern part of Myanmar, distributed in Daqili, Bangkang, Mengla, Lashu, Mujie, and the entire Guogan region.

In August 2022, She Zhijiang was arrested by Thai police in Bangkok, Thailand.

Passing through this door, crossing the bridge, is Myanmar's Daqili. Although Daqili has implemented the "foreign restrictions", people from Thailand and Myanmar still enter and exit normally.

Crazy building

Mengbo County in Wa State is a small town with only one street.

Like Guo Gan, the door signs and plaques of the few restaurants, small shops, and hotels on the street are written in Chinese. The people here speak Mandarin, and even the education in schools is in Mandarin, with Chinese yuan circulating.

In 2019, when Zeng Cheng from Longyan, Fujian arrived in Mengbo County, there were only three to four thousand people here. The only thing that made Zeng Cheng realize he was overseas was the bright red light district and the only "entertainment venue" - a casino.

These are all opened by Chinese people. Zeng Cheng remembers that at that time, it only cost two to three hundred yuan to illegally cross over to Mengbo, plus transportation and expenses, and a few thousand yuan could reach Mengbo. After arriving, he rented a room for two to three thousand yuan per month. "There were few people, and business was not easy to do," he said

The arrival of the electronic fraud gang has disrupted the original tranquility and peace here. "I heard that after the severe crackdown in Cambodia, the population here suddenly increased." Zeng Cheng said that the small county town, which originally had three to four thousand people, began to expand and develop on both sides with more and more people, and more and more buildings were erected. When there were more people, there were 100000 young people who were not very old and engaged in electricity fraud. "Afterwards, when renting a house, the rent began to be calculated based on the square meter, at 200 yuan per square meter."

Zeng Cheng opened a restaurant and the rent increased from the initial 30000 yuan per year to 720000 yuan per year. The restaurant, which used to be a deserted place, could earn a daily income of 20000 to 30000 yuan just by selling breakfast due to the sudden increase in population. In the county town, three more casinos have been added and one new KTV has been opened.

At that time, there was no concept of "park" in Zeng Cheng's understanding. He only knows that tens of thousands of young people who engage in electronic fraud come and go back and forth every day, and there is no boss to openly control them. Those who take the lead in work are called "team leaders".

Vehicles and pedestrians shuttle on the Meisai Bridge. This is the core of the "Golden Triangle", and under the bridge is the trading center when drugs are rampant.

These "team leaders" or "dignified" electronic fraud employees will drive Alpha or Crown sedans roaring on the street with high throttle. Unlike the domestic car market, for a car priced at 700000 yuan, you can buy a used one for 30000 yuan here. In the ditches around the county town, there were cars that had fallen and broken down everywhere. "If you drive them, throw them away, no one wants them, no crane or trailer, and maintenance is more expensive than buying a new one." This made Zeng Cheng tempted. He decided to bring his brother here to collect waste - salvage the abandoned cars, but the epidemic eventually disrupted his plan.

With the rise of the electronic fraud industry in the local area, the cost of illegal immigration is also increasing. "It is not possible to reach northern Myanmar through the normal route of a passport, either through a border pass or through illegal immigration." Zeng Cheng said that initially, a border pass cost 200 yuan and can be handled by finding a tourism or trading company as an intermediary in the domestic border area. "If you don't have this pass, go to the border area first to see. In order to compete for business, the motorcycle carrying passengers over there will come to inquire whether to go and play. For 50 yuan, you can take it to the opposite side by small road or pull it over."

With strict control measures, a border pass now costs 60000 to 70000 yuan. "So there are very few people who have this pass, and most of them have illegally crossed the border, knowing it well."

Cheng Xiang, who has visited Bangkang multiple times, said that the Wa state has tightened its entry and exit through border passes. "Each year, the quota is limited, and it costs 70000 yuan to apply and still requires finding someone."

On July 25th, the Wa State Judicial Work Committee issued an internal document requiring all counties and special zones to be strictly vigilant against illegal immigrants, and to strictly register foreign vehicles and personnel entering the Wa State. Local police stations and traffic police brigades will coordinate to handle corresponding documents at ports.

Regarding illegal immigration, Wa State has issued a document. Respondents provide

In addition to the increase in housing rent, revenue, and illegal immigration costs, the fees that need to be paid to the local government have also skyrocketed. According to Zeng Cheng, when those people first arrived in Mengbo, no one checked their documents. As long as they paid the corresponding amount, they could start a company. "If you let him invest in the company, he agreed. Anyway, it's all Chinese people who make Chinese people."

At first, Zengcheng and his team were required to pay a monthly security management fee of 100 yuan to the police station and a monthly health fee of 700 yuan to the health bureau, both of which were voluntarily collected by the police station and the health bureau.

After the electronic fraud industry settled in the county town, the local armed forces intervened and established a management committee. "The management committee seems to have more power than the police, at least at the level of a brigade commander," Zeng Cheng said. Later, when paying fees, they had to be directly handed over to the management committee, and the fees were higher. The management committee collected fees under the name of a business license, with small restaurants and small shops costing 5000 yuan per month. "For large electric fraud companies, the park is calculated based on the area."

The fees charged by Mengbo are considered cheap across the entire northern part of Myanmar. According to insiders, when Mengbo was at its peak, it was worth 700000 to 800000 yuan to purchase one acre of land. However, due to the crackdown on electricity fraud, people quickly left and it became colder. Bangkang, the capital of Wa State, sold one acre of land for 2 million yuan, while Mengla sold one acre of land for 3 million yuan at its peak. Now, Guokang's one acre of land has sold for 8 million yuan. "Although all the Chinese people in Guokang have left before, the high-rise buildings on the old street are all engaged in electricity fraud, much stronger than those in Mengla, Wa State. There is no special zone in Myanmar that is as popular as Guokang, and they are still building wildly."

The ships carrying passengers on the Mekong River are slender and rudimentary in Thailand, and like motorboats in Laos.

The means of controlling people

Although the armed forces provide shelter for the electricity fraud park, they do not directly send troops to guard it. The guards holding guns in the electricity fraud park in northern Myanmar are all from civilian groups or security companies.

According to a survey conducted by Pengpai News, they buy guns in the Thailand Myanmar border or Mengla, where firearms are rampant. They can buy a gun for 10000 yuan. In the e-fraud park, some parks only have one company, while others have dozens of companies. Each floor is locked and guarded by security guards, and there are people guarding the entrance of the locked building to prevent employees from escaping. According to insiders, an ordinary person under the age of 30 in Guogan can sell for two to three hundred thousand yuan, and they are like walking RMB.

Security guards equipped with guns are just powerful weapons to deter electronic fraud employees on the surface, but in reality, their means of controlling people are diverse and even more frightening than firearms.

Lin Bowen from Longyan, Fujian has been abroad for over 4 years. His cousin is engaged in telecommunications fraud in a fraud park called Cangsheng Science and Technology Park in Guogan. My cousin told Lin Bowen that when he first arrived at the electronic fraud park, he witnessed his fleeing companions being caught and their tendons broken, and thrown into the sun for exposure.

In places such as Guokang and Wa State, individuals keep tigers and lions as pets. Respondents provide

"During the day, people are exposed to direct sunlight, and at night they are locked in a water lock," Lin Bowen explained. "The so-called water lock refers to putting people in iron cages and then soaking them in water.". This dispelled Lin Bowen's cousin's desire to run away, and when he saw someone with three fingers chopped off later, he became accustomed to it.

The situation faced by women traveling to northern Myanmar may be even more tragic. Lin Bowen said that those with good looks may be raped or even gang raped, while those with poor performance may be forced into prostitution to repay their boss's property, electricity, water, and living expenses.

At the same time, they constantly face the situation of being sold back and forth. Another insider stated that employees who fail to complete their tasks or perform well in the electronic fraud industry will be sold to another electronic fraud company by their boss. If they fail to complete their tasks at home, they will be brutally beaten. The perpetrator used wooden sticks, electric batons, belts, ashtrays, or stools... as long as it was something they could pick up with their hands, and at the same time, filmed the process and tragedy of the employees being abused, sending them to their relatives and friends to threaten and demand property.

Of course, for employees who perform outstandingly, e-fraud bosses have their own rewards and pay performance-based wages. Taking the electricity fraud park in Wa State as an example, for a 500000 yuan order, fraudsters can receive 200000 yuan and pay 300000 yuan to the boss, with a first level distribution.

In addition to receiving performance-based salaries, employees with good performance will be taken out to eat, drink, engage in prostitution and gambling once. In the larger park, food, drink, prostitution, and gambling are all available and can be easily digested and solved internally.

Guogan rural homestead. Respondents provide

Several major families compete for the "boss"

Since 2015, the Kokang Autonomous Region of Shan State, Myanmar has been under military curfew from 8pm to 5am the next day. This is also the most chaotic and complex area in northern Myanmar today, with notorious electronic fraud parks such as Cangsheng Science and Technology Park and Wohu Mountain Villa located in Kokang.

Guogan has a total area of 2060 square kilometers and is not as large as the neighboring Zhenkang County in Yunnan Province. Its capital, Old Street, is separated by a wall from Nansan Town in Zhenkang County.

Although only separated by a wall, on one side is an orderly street, and on the other side, within the sight of the street are casinos of all sizes. At the entrance of some casinos, there are vehicles specifically designed to pick up and drop off gamblers. Like the etiquette ladies in domestic hotels, the players on the gambling table dress neatly, and they enter with a sense of ceremony, becoming the local "scenery". In addition, the red light area, armed personnel pulled by pickup trucks, children begging while holding onto the thighs of pedestrians on the street, and various luxury cars shuttling along the street form the portrait of Guogan Old Street.

Although Kokang has Kokang allies, there is no real "boss" among the forces in the autonomous region, and no one can the final say.

The so-called "four major families" in the local area were all subordinates of the Peng family, the "King of Guogan".

Public information shows that Bai Suocheng, the Chairman of Guogan Autonomous Region, and his second son Bai Yingcang are the captain of Guogan Militia Brigade, deputy director of the Finance Bureau, general manager of Yum! Brands Group, and founder of Cangsheng Technology Electronic Fraud Park. Bai Yingcang held a high-profile birthday banquet and also invited domestic celebrities and internet celebrities to congratulate him on the platform, sparking heated discussions. According to insiders, the area from Old Street Shuangfeng City, Baihe Mansion to distillery is within the influence of the Bai family.

The Wei family led by Wei Chaoren, whose younger brother controlled a border camp, is considered the only force in the big family holding military power. The Henry Group, a subsidiary of the family, operates the hotel and entertainment industry, telecommunications fraud, and gambling in Southeast Asia, with industries extending to Cambodia and Thailand.

As early as 2021, it was exposed that the Bai and Wei families were trying to grab