Title: Re: Scam compounds & story
Post by: ainat on September 02, 2022, 03:00:43 PM
S'poreans who rescue cyber slavery victims offer glimpse of life inside scam compounds in Southeast Asia Tricking people into working as scammers by luring them over with false job advertisements has become a major criminal industry in Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar. Matthias Ang | August 28, 2022, 07:56 AM
PERSPECTIVE: In June 2021, a Singaporean scam victim founded the Global Anti-Scam Organisation (GASO) to help support people around the world who have been affected by cybercrimes.
Part of this work includes rescuing people who have been lured to countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar by false job advertisements and trapped in secretive compounds where they are made to work as scammers.
Mothership spoke to two Singaporeans who volunteer with GASO in its anti-human trafficking department.
They shared how victims are lured over and dragooned into becoming scammers, how the criminal syndicates behind the advertisements and compounds operate, the various challenges faced in carrying out rescue operations, and what Singaporeans need to be aware of.
On Jun. 19, Lianhe Zaobao shared a video detailing the experience of a 26-year-old Malaysian who decided to accept a job offer in Cambodia, only to end up getting forced to work as a scammer for a criminal syndicate.
His ordeal offered a glimpse into the syndicates operating out of the Cambodian city of Sihanoukville and the nature of the scam operations that he was made to run while trapped in one of many such compounds in various Southeast Asian cities.
A person who refuses to engage in scams could face torture
The Malaysian was made to work as an online investment scammer by looking for potential victims on Chinese social media platforms WeChat and QQ.
He attempted to escape the compound several times but failed due to the compound's isolation and armed security.
The compounds are effectively self-contained neighbourhoods with minimarts, living quarters, clinics, restaurants, massage parlours and salons.
The Malaysian also told stories of people who attempted to leave but were beaten and confined upon being discovered by the syndicate.
Speaking to Mothership, a Singaporean who joined GASO's anti-human trafficking department as a volunteer in March 2022, Lucy (not her real name), said these experiences are typical in such compounds, regardless of whether they are located in countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines or Thailand.
Another volunteer, Carol (not her real name), who joined the department in July 2021, said those who refused to be scammers were tortured by the syndicate.
This includes being beaten, starved, locked in a room, having your phone confiscated or being sold off to another syndicate.
Carol also provided photos and videos shared with her by people trapped within compounds in Cambodia.
Carol said these images showed bunk-like living conditions and offices where they must work more than 12 hours to bring in "sales" as a scammer.
According to the accounts of people within these compounds, Carol estimates that working hours there can be up to 14 hours a day.
Those tasked with targeting victims in Asia usually have to work from 10am to midnight, whereas those targeting Europe and the U.S. have to work from 11pm to 12pm the following day.
The scammers are only allowed occasional meal breaks that range from 30 minutes to an hour, Carol pointed out.
In addition, if they cannot meet "sales" targets, they may have to work overtime.
The scammers can also be beaten for their poor performance or a perceived "poor attitude" by the syndicates.
For the scammers, "you never know when they (the syndicates) find fault or when they want to beat you," she highlighted.
On top of that, a debt of tens of thousands of US dollars is usually imposed on the victim by the syndicate — an amount they are required to pay if they want to leave, Carol said.
This is known as the "赔付" or "bondage debt".
The stories recounted by Lucy and Carol are not unique, nor are they the most harrowing. Escaped victims have shared similar stories of confinement and abuse with regional media.
Most of the victims tricked into working for such syndicates are from China, along with many from Southeast Asian countries.
Both Zaobao and Japanese media Nikkei Asia reported that people tricked into working for such syndicates can be subjected to physical abuse such as being beaten repeatedly with a stick or even being electrocuted with a taser.
According to others who escaped, there are also people who allegedly have been killed, with their deaths reported as suicides afterwards, Nikkei Asia further reported.
On Aug. 19, AFP reported that about 40 Vietnamese people escaped from the Golden Phoenix Entertainment Casino in Cambodia by fighting with the security guards and swimming across the river to reach Vietnam.
At least one person has been reported missing after being swept away in the river. Vietnamese media VNExpress reported that the workers had been persuaded to work at the casino through either advertisements or acquaintances who promised them "easy jobs and high salaries."
However, the workers soon discovered that their role was to trick people into putting their money into online games instead.
If they failed to meet the quotas imposed, they would either be beaten, have their salaries docked, or get sold off to another casino.
One of the victims, who is 20, alleged that they were forced to work 14 hours daily under threat of being beaten to death.
The challenges of rescuing a victim who has been trafficked into a scam compound
The Malaysian in Zaobao's report was eventually rescued after three months, under the coordination of GASO, when he took the risk of being beaten to message his family about his circumstances.
His family filed a report with the Malaysian police and embassy, with the assistance of GASO.
According to Lucy, GASO works with local contacts and organisations on the ground to organise a rescue.
However, such rescues are incredibly challenging to pull off and cannot just be done whenever a call for help is made, she said.
Carrying out an operation involves finding out where the compound is located and the extent of the danger present — such as the ties it has with the local authorities and the syndicate running the compound, Lucy added.
The onus of providing such information is usually on the victims themselves, Lucy pointed out, or the rescuers do not know where to start.
The victims must also avoid getting into more trouble themselves, with GASO generally advising those who call for help to "pretend to be compliant".
"You have to pretend to be compliant regardless of how much you don't want it (having to scam others) and then from there, we find a way to get you out. It's not immediately you know, I'm not David Copperfield."
In some instances, such as within Sihanoukville, it is "virtually impossible" to save a victim from a compound because of the influence that the syndicate has with the authorities, Lucy further said.
Nikkei Asia noted that syndicates in Cambodia are able to purchase the protection of some local authority figures.
The Japanese media outlet further highlighted that in one case, local police officers accompanied the bosses of a syndicate to recapture trafficked workers who had escaped.
Aljazeera also reported that several scam compounds, particularly those located in Sihanoukville, have links to some of the biggest Chinese investors in Cambodia.
In countries such as Myanmar, the political situation makes it extremely difficult to rescue a victim, Lucy said.
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP), an American federal institution that deals with violent conflict around the world, reported in April 2021 that following the military coup in Myanmar, transnational Chinese gangs were able to widen their activities within the country by working with factions within the armed forces and various militia groups.
Many of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) within Myanmar, focused around Chinese-owned casino developments, have since become linked to online scams, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, according to an August 2022 feature by The Diplomat.
Not all pleas for help are genuine
This leads to Lucy's next point about the people trapped within the compounds: they are aware of what they are doing.
GASO's anti-human trafficking department does not rescue people who have been at a compound for three months or more because it generally means such "victims" are willing participants in the scams.
If such profiles call for help, according to Carol, it is because they are incompetent at "doing sales" — that is, scamming people.
Lucy added, "Anybody in their right mind, if you do not know what you are being tricked into, will immediately look for help."
Lucy shared a recent case she dealt with — a Hong Konger brought to a scam compound in Myanmar on Aug. 11 after flying over to Thailand on Aug. 10 in response to an advertisement for a job opening.
"He panicked and immediately went to ask his family for help," she said.
In contrast, she added that a call for help from someone who has been at a scam compound for two to three months is "dubious", as it means that this person has probably tried to engage in scamming.
"When we talk to a person who wants to be rescued, we will also roughly know their mindset or their thoughts," she said.
Checks on the person's background will also be carried out. This includes reaching out to their family members to help determine if a person is lying and whether a rescue should be made, Carol further elaborated.
She added that many of the people they talked to wanted to be rescued because they could not do "sales".
Carol acknowledged however, that there is still a minority among this group who really do not want to engage in scams but were doing so under the threat of torture by the compound's management.
How do people even end up there?
This brings up my next question: how do these victims within the compounds even end up in such a position in the first place?
Here, Carol shared another insight she gained from talking to many scammers: many of them are in desperate situations in their home country.
Desperation borne out of debt
According to Carol, many scammers are from mainland China and are either heavily in debt or have a criminal record.
"Basically, they cannot survive in China and they move out," she said.
Compounding this desperation is the fact that many syndicates have lured people through false advertisements promising high salaries for job openings, particularly in Cambodia, mainland Chinese media Global Times and China Daily reported.
Making money through scamming is therefore seen as a means of earning quick money, and a path towards a better life, Carol added.
According to state-run media outlets, the Chinese embassy warned its citizens at least twice in 2022 about such job advertisements.
Elsewhere, in Malaysia and Taiwan, the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic has also caused many to seek jobs online. Some inadvertently come across jobs advertisements by the syndicates, Carol pointed out.
A fake translation job advertisement requiring "relocation" to Thailand. Photo courtesy of Carol.
A fake job advertisement calling for people with tech-related skills and promising people with different tiers of pay depending on their specialties. Photo courtesy of Carol.
On Aug. 9, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported that one of Taipei's City Councillors (elected lawmakers) issued a warning about several Taiwanese being lured by the promise of lucrative jobs to Cambodia, only to be held against their will and forced to engage in illegal work.
The councillor noted that within Taiwan, organisations behind the fraud lured victims by first inviting job applicants to interviews at expensive venues and then persuading them to sign exploitative contracts after gaining their trust.
However, she acknowledged that some victims could also have prior drug or fraud convictions, which means they are less likely to report their experiences to the Taiwanese authorities. This makes it harder for the authorities to take action.
In Malaysia, Bernama reported in July 2022 that 46 Malaysians were rescued from Cambodia after they were reportedly duped by high-paying job offers.
Malaysia's ambassador to Cambodia, Eldeen Husaini Mohd Hashim, issued a statement warning Malaysians to be cautious of job advertisements promising high salaries overseas.
He said, "Check with relevant authorities including the embassy to validate the job offers. Do inform your parents and relatives in Malaysia if you receive such offer. They might give you a valuable second opinion on whether the job offer is a scam."
A Chinese businessman, who is part of a volunteer network in Cambodia that helps to rescue such victims, gave an estimate of at least 30,000 people who have been trafficked into Cambodia, according to Nikkei Asia.
A spokesperson for Cambodia's police has denied that cases are in the thousands but has acknowledged that "some" cases have happened.
Unsuccessful rescues
A victim who was sold off to another scam compound by his rescue driver in Myanmar
Lucy shared that the first case she ever worked on involved a Chinese victim who ended up in a scam compound in Myanmar due to an online job advertisement for work in Thailand.
He flew to Bangkok, where he was met by a snakehead (human trafficker) at the airport, who took him by car to the Thai town of Mae Sot on the border with Myanmar.
The snakehead then smuggled him across to Myanmar by sailing along the Moei River towards a tiny jetty that turned out to be an entrance to a scam compound.
According to Lucy, three to four days after arriving at the compound, he eventually reached out to GASO.
While at the compound, he was tasked with "recruitment" or luring more people over into the compound, she said.
Lucy highlighted that initially, the man would "recruit" people, then ask her to warn them not to come as it is a scam.
Lucy added that as a result of her interactions with him, she also gained more insights into how the recruitment process worked.
However, once the syndicate boss began checking his communications daily, he could no longer provide such information, resulting in at least one person he "recruited" going over to the compound.
He also made multiple attempts to escape, she said.
However, he would be caught and beaten by men guarding the compound each time.
The man eventually turned to asking his family to help pay for his bondage debt, which started at US$10,000 but subsequently ballooned to more than US$30,000.
The rise was due to the costs of the people he "recruited" but backed out at the last minute being added to the debt, Lucy told me.
This included items such as the price of their air tickets, she added.
He was nonetheless able to raise the inflated amount, with the help of his family.
The man also had to pay an additional sum of almost US$10,000 for a driver who would take him out of the compound.
However, upon leaving the compound, the driver took him to another compound instead, 10 minutes away.
"He had been sold by his driver for US$30,000," Lucy said.
What do Singaporeans need to be aware of?
I then ask Carol and Lucy a question even closer to home: have they encountered any Singaporean victims or scammers so far?
Both of them said that they have only heard about the presence of Singaporeans in Cambodian scam compounds from other scammers they have spoken to.
They have also not personally encountered any Singaporean victims seeking help.
Mothership has reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more information on the matter.
When I asked what Singaporeans need to be aware of, Carol told me that it is crucial for Singaporeans to first be aware of the scam industry.
"A lot of Singaporeans don't know about what is going on in the 'dark world'," she said.
"Singaporeans are very sheltered and innocent to a certain extent. It is very easy to get into trouble, really," Lucy pointed out.
There is also the fact that these scammers can be encountered in person in popular holiday hotspots, such as in clubs in Thailand, and can come off as being friendly and approachable.
Such people will strike up conversations with you, said Carol, relating one of her own experiences at a club in Bangkok.
In her case, Carol said that red flags were raised once the person she talked to mentioned that his job involved cryptocurrency and repeatedly asked her to stay with his friends in Thailand for a few more days to spend time together.
Similarly, Lucy shared a story of a Chinese national who claimed that he was kidnapped and sold off to a compound in Myanmar, having been lured by an invitation from an acquaintance and fellow countryman at a club in Thailand, who invited him over to the Thai border city of Mae Sot.
Calling on Singaporeans to be more careful, they said, "Stick to yourself and your friends, don't kay kiang (act smart) and join others, even if they seem 'normal' or 'friendly'."
Title: Re: Scam compounds & story
Post by: ainat on September 28, 2022, 12:02:50 PM
Parents Bring Home 23-Year-Old's Ashes Who Died After He Was Scammed & Abused In Myanmar Goi Zhen Feng was a victim of an online dating scam who flew to Thailand to meet his girlfriend for the first time. Aqasha Aiman | 20 Sep 2022
23-year-old Goi Zhen Feng's ashes were brought back home by his parents to Panorama Lapangan Akasia, Ipoh, on Friday, 16 September
According to investigators, Zhen Feng was a victim of an online dating scam and flew to Thailand on 19 January to meet his online “romance”.
He was cremated in the presence of his parents at the Hin Kong Temple in Si Racha, Thailand, on 15 September, reported New Straits Times.
A two-day prayer service was held by Zhen Feng's family and friends to say their final goodbyes.
His parents, Goi Chee Kong and Yang Fei Pin, knew something was amiss when he failed to return home almost a month later
He told his parents before leaving Malaysia that he was going to meet a girl he was in a relationship with for the first time, reported South China Morning Post.
"He met a girlfriend online and they would talk over video calls," Chee Kong was quoted as saying.
"We never saw her face but we heard her voice … whenever we came into the room she would sign off because she was shy or the internet connection would suddenly fail," he added.
Zhen Feng had promised his family that he would return to Malaysia on 5 February, the day before his mother's birthday, but he never showed up for the celebration.
"I knew something was seriously wrong," said Fei Pin.
"My son would always be there on my birthday," she added.
When Zhen Feng arrived in Thailand, he was held captive and trafficked to Myawaddy, Myanmar, a town where many Malaysian job scam victims were allegedly brought to by syndicate members
On 31 March, he phoned his parents for the last time.
"He said he needed RM80,000 for medical treatment. We were certain he was being threatened," said Chee Kong.
"He sounded like he was a completely different person," he added.
His kidnappers allegedly dumped his body in front of a hospital in Mae Sot, Thailand, a town that shares a border with Myanmar, on 11 April
When his body was discovered, Zhen Feng was covered in bruises and scars from the months of abuse he had to endure.
The nurses who cared for Zhen Feng attempted to call his family but were unable to do so because he was registered under "Mu Jun Hong", a fake name given by his abductors. He was also so severely ill that he couldn't speak.
His parents flew to Thailand on 30 August after receiving information that they could meet with their son at the hospital in Mae Sot
His parents brought a pair of new shoes, a set of clothes, and a hat for him. Once they arrived, they were informed that Zhen Feng was pronounced dead on 11 May, and was buried with the fake name.
"We travelled to Bangkok, hoping to bring him back to Malaysia for treatment. However, we were informed that he had died at 2am on 11 May. The doctor believed my son had been abused before he was left at the hospital for treatment on 11 April," Chee Kong told Bernama on 4 September.
Zhen Feng's family proceeded to apply for the process of re-digging the grave to conduct deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing
On 11 September, the results of the DNA test came in and Thai authorities confirmed that the deceased was related to the family and that Chee Kong is (99.99%) the biological father of the victim, reported The Sun Daily.
Zhen Feng's funeral was held at Papan Memorial Park on Sunday, 18 September.
Rainfalls. Funeral music plays. The engine of the hearse idles.
Respectfully, a mother struggles to stop stroking the urn of her son while her husband stands motionless beside her it's time but she's not ready neither of them are it will be the last journey for their boy weight and film it's a journey that started online with the promise of love and led him to his death thousands of miles from home
I'm your host Steve Lai and on this episode of CNA correspondent you'll hear a story of desperation manipulation and Devastation that serves as a cautionary tale for a growing Regional problem a warning for anyone looking for work in Southeast Asia job scams are on the rise this follows the death of a 23 year old Malaysian who went to Thailand to meet an online girlfriend only to be forced to work for scam networks in Myanmar this story of Zhen Feng is shocking and sad but sad is still is it's not an isolated case transnational crime syndicates operating in countries like Myanmar Cambodia and Laos have been luring victims out of their home countries with the promise of work money or love and then enslaving them to carry out scams themselves with violent consequences if they resist and here to tell you about Zhen Feng's story and how these cross-border crime syndicates operate and what is being done to stop it is cna's Malaysia correspondent Melissa go hi Mal thanks for your time today pleasure let's start with weights and Fung you followed his story all the way to his funeral in his hometown in IPO perak what did you learn about how he became a scam victim was targeted by scammers from the very beginning when he met a girl via social media sometimes in August last year although he was always hurt chatting with her online his parents including the brothers and the sister none of them have ever seen a face or know how she looks like she was never introduced to them because Zhen Feng said she's really shy but about five months into the online relationship Denver told her parents in January that he's going to Bangkok to meet her since there's two weeks break before his final semester began now his parents didn't say no because after all John bong is already 23 years old and he's very well built he knows Taekwondo six foot tall he should be able to know how to look after himself promised his mom that he will be back in time to celebrate her birthday but he didn't come home and he didn't call home either so the parents got really worried and decided to launch a police report in February they suspected something bad might have happened to him but it never crossed their minds that the sun was smuggled into miyadi in southern Myanmar and sold to an online scam Syndicate in a notorious KK Park and once he fell into the hands of these scam syndicates what happened next according to his father finally called Home in March and apologized to his mum that he missed the birthday and he told them that he caught covet shortly after he arrived in Bangkok and he's been sick since then and he needed about 20 000 US dollars for medical treatment now he said at first a Syndicate wouldn't believe him they've continued forcing to scam others to come over and when he refused he was bitten again and again by a fellow Malaysian from the southern state of Johor but he didn't name him now the father told me that he could sense he could hear that the Sun was being threatened as he was rather evasive and that was the last time he got to speak with his eldest son he died two months later and do we know what the circumstances were that led to his death after the alarming phone call the parents launched another police report and they were told that Interpol was alerted but they waited and waited they heard nothing from the police while zhongphong's Health got worse it deteriorated so badly that The Syndicate finally let him go according to the nurse at Mesa hospital in Thailand near Myanmar border Turpin was brought in in April by a rohingya lady he was immediately admitted to ICU his urine was all black and tenfone died in a hospital a month later according to a Malaysian assemblyman who accompanied the parents to claim the body in Thailand the hospital listed the course of death as pneumonia and multiple organ failure really is quite a dire situation that he found himself in and all that time it was all based on a lie the girl that he had thought he had fallen in love with never existed yes nobody has seen her face she's a ghost on the social media the friend sort of her as new zone or the goddess until today they have no idea how to trace who this is but they know that the sun is a scam victim and he's gone for the parents they are utterly shattered I saw them at the funeral they thought their son was still alive back in August they saw a video clip of a young man lying in ICU bed it's just helpless looking in the hospital bed and somehow the assemblyman Mr Sim through his friend in Thailand and managed to get hold of this video and show it to the parents and they quickly identified that this could be the sun they flew over to Thailand and rushed to Mesa only to be told by the hospital that the sun had passed away three months ago in May so it's been rather daunting for the family and I understand they also had to exhume his body from the grave that he had been buried in you managed to speak to them during the funeral what did they say in order to confirm the sun's death they had to assume the body from DNA tests he was Bare it in the Masquerade so you have to find the body first and exhume it but first the parents had to pay the hospital bill that came up to about 20 000 US Dollars it was the most painful three weeks in their lives having to wait for the DNA test results the parents decided to cremate the body after that and bring back the ashes you know what about the parents the most was the fact that despite Zhen Feng being so ill till the very end he didn't give up he was trying to reach out to the parents to save him I saw the video clip of his final days that he was intubated his eyes wide open but he couldn't speak the nurse said he tried to press the number of parents and the nurse to be fat did try to call that number and reach their mother but the mother said no it's not the son because the patient was registered under a different name so the son in the end had to die alone in a foreign land after being abused and tortured and he tried till very end to seek help and it's just so painful to watch them because the mother was crying and caressing the urn and speaking to the urn and yet there's nothing they could do a heartbreaking to hear the details of this story melon it really is a terribly sad situation for the parents to have to go through and for Zhen Feng himself of course sad and tragic are the only words I can use to describe it but it's not as we also learned from your reporting an isolated case it's actually been revealed to be a much bigger problem these scam syndicates than first thought so many parents they are appealing for help after the death of Zhen Feng sent shockwaves across the country some took the case straight to the prime minister's office urging for Prime Ismail Sabri to help bring home their sons others waited outside embassies I was at Laos Embassy and parents the ngos where they were submitting a memorandum urging the Laos government to help officially the foreign Ministry said they have received over 300 reported cases across Myanmar Laos and Cambodia more than half have since been rescued and returned to Malaysia and mostly from Cambodia and lately we are also seeing some returning from the notorious KK Park in Myanmar and some from Laos now as we speak some young relations are still trying to go over despite the media reports despite the objections from their parents they're driven by jobs by money and other interests some of those returned to Malaysia they continue to scam others to go over to scam their friends to go over despite having gone through the audio themselves to attended by money and some were threatened by they're worried about their own safety that the syndicates would come after them if they don't do so so the problem persists and this is not the end of it it certainly isn't it's not the end of our podcast episode either next on CNA correspondence you'll hear more about what authorities are doing about it [Music] My name is Joel host of the new season of the climate conversations from chefs to scientists join me as we get personal with the people driving change in sustainability look out for our episodes wherever you get your podcasts foreign countries should denounce I should denounce the activities of human trafficking okay and I think the Prime Minister should have a discussion with the with the countries involved in the primes of the countries involved to try to solve this problem that was Malaysia's former Inspector General of police Musa Hassan calling for coordinated cooperation at the highest levels to stop cross-border syndicates from Human Trafficking by enslaving online scam victims to carry out even more scams you're listening to me Steve lye along with Melissa go cna's Malaysia correspondent now we were talking before the break about how big a problem this is any time that crime takes place across borders things get complicated don't they if it's a complex situation the former Malaysian police chief Mr Hassan whom I spoke with recently said he needs tremendous political will first of all the government the prime minister himself must reach out to his counterparts in Cambodia in Laos and Myanmar and ambassadors in these countries said that they are negotiating with authorities it's a painstaking process these Malaysians after they are rescued they're held in Depot because many of them have broken the immigration laws of the country so when they were smuggled in and some were identified as ring leaders himself and they may be charged so the Malaysian police even the Interpol they cannot do much yes it's kidnapping it's transnational crime it's human trafficking it's even murder but they have no jurisdiction to act in these countries these are sovereign states so they need to rely on the local enforcement authorities the agencies to help them and it's not easy although Prime Ismail Sabri has given his assurance that all Malaysian scam victims will be brought back home safely many parents are not convinced they are anxious the longer they wait they fear for the worst that the children's lives are in danger emulation authorities as you mentioned before the break have managed to recover and bring home simulations that have been caught up in these scams are there steps that the Malaysian government is taking to help the other hundreds of citizens that may be getting caught up in all of this prime minister Ismael himself has announced to setting up of a special multi-agency committee led by a foreign Ministry to oversee the saint returner of these Malaysian scam victims the government has been using existing channels including seeking help from the local authorities I spoke with the Malaysian ambassador to Cambodia his Excellency Eldin husseini mama and he said some are more proactive than the others increasingly he's sharing data Intel pulling Resources with ambassadors from other countries like Indonesia Philippines Thailand because their citizens were also in the same situation in the same troubles so to put pressure on Phnom Penh or to any of these governments to act it's better to speak with one voice and also when victim sent out OS messages there are coordinates sometimes these coordinates may not be accurate but if the other embassies receive similar SOS and coordinates chances of locating the victims their exact location is far greater he said also there will be greater pressure on the authorities to act upon these requirements so it's team efforts now and it varies from one country is another depending how proactive the ambassadors are yes it certainly needs some Regional cooperation right indeed Regional Corporation is key asean must come together to protect the region as a whole from being used by International scam syndicates to host their operations former police chief Musa Hassan said that they are churning out scanners forcing young Malaysians into slaveries many are now brainwashed when they come back as a result they are favorable their lives even after they are back there's continuous game others to go over he also thinks that it's not a bad idea to actually stop them from going all the young Travelers especially those traveling solo at least an interview before they leave the country so that they don't fall victim to all these scams and you know if not a band because I checked with ambassadors it would be a bad idea to have a blanket ban because it will be discriminatory and it will be buyers on certain countries they can't issue a travel advisory but they can at least conduct an interview at immigration before they leave just to be sure the syndicates tactics are always evolving they are moving their headquarters from one place to another within the region we are hearing some Malaysian attract in Vietnam so asean countries must close all doors in order to be one step ahead of them already thousands of young Malaysians have become scam victims some like some fun they lost their lives many parents also lost so much money having to rescue their children this church has to end it certainly does if you're listening and thinking you or someone you know should know more about how these scams work there's a CNA explains article on our website detailing how you can avoid falling for such scams but Mel from working on this story what lessons do you think our listeners should be taking away so we are all at risk we have to be vigilant at all times if the job offers promise High pay and yet no qualification necessary that itself is a red flag we just have to be very careful double check with the embassies I know sometimes we let our guard down also we want to believe many people have lost their jobs they are desperate for money we all have a collective responsibility I throw to warn others to spread awareness to remind each other the syndicates may be evolving their tactics but if the media continues to shine a spotlight on them and they know the public is waging an all-out war on them it will be harder for them to pray and we've got to make that job harder for them to keep everyone safe thank you Mel for talking us through this story it's been great to have you on today thank you Steve there's a good chance that while listening to the Pod you probably had that old adage of if it sounds too good to be true it probably is running through your head I know I certainly did so what does it come down to desperation ignorance naivety blind optimism perhaps all of the above circumstances certainly play their part as well the victims have common traits like poor support structures of family or friends that they feel that they can talk to they are in a desperate situation or they want to feel special whether it's for a romantic connection or to profit from an investment opportunity essentially they all want to feel like they are winning at life and scammers know this so you have to acknowledge the level of sophistication of these scam syndicates is forever changing and evolving as they find new ways to prey on our frailties to counter this as they get smarter we have to as well and you and I should do what we can to look out for each other online because it's not just money at risk it's lives too.
The podcast team is made up of Jacqueline Chan, Daniel Lee, Christina Robert, Clara Ong, Steve Lai.
---------- end of video transcript
Title: Re: Scam compounds & story
Post by: ainat on April 23, 2023, 12:35:06 PM
Victim Blice Tan
23 April 2023 (CNA): Duped into taking a ‘business development’ job, he was ill-treated, forced to scam by a syndicate, https://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna-insider/duped-business-development-job-scam-syndicate-malaysian-victim-cambodia-3434171
Archive: https://archive.fo/BTw9B
15 Aug 2022: Victim Sued for Telling His Experiences, https://www.globalantiscam.org/post/victim-sued-for-exposing-scammers
Archive: https://archive.fo/psQlI
Bilce Tan Legal Defense Fund 陈万庆法律辩护 : https://gogetfunding.com/bilce-tan-legal-defense-fund
How A Job Scam Turned Me Into A Scammer. I'm Still Seeking Justice https://youtu.be/PhAgBjVGPIM
Bilce's forced to scam nightmare in Cambodia syndicate scam compound https://youtu.be/u21guCBXxsg
出国打工可靠吗 https://youtu.be/4leyFpwDWgY?t=659
Title: Re: Scam compounds & stories (and victims)
Post by: ainat on April 23, 2023, 12:48:24 PM
Youtube: Forced to Scam: Cambodia’s Cyber Slaves, https://youtu.be/n-EtdC4zQso
Transcript from the video:
They target people around the world I lost over three hundred thousand dollars Chinese cyber scam operations stealing tens of billions of dollars these are sophisticated criminal Enterprises many of their workers victims too traffic to enslaved and forced to scam foreign 101 East talks to victims of Global scam operations and investigates the Chinese companies behind them and their links to the Cambodian Elite foreign [Music] basically all my savings that I saved up to open up my own business this 33 year old will call Melissa lives in the United States during covert working from home and alone she fell victim to a cyber scam I was just looking for a fun date Melissa swiped right when she saw zizel on dating app hinge in August 2021 using stolen photos of a Taiwanese actor the man claimed he was Chinese an architect and stranded in the United States because of the pandemic this is another project he was supposedly working on he was cute who would share her arm pictures of his dog uh you know videos of like where he went on vacation we text literally morning tonight every day it was very very believable so too was the online Investment Company he encouraged her to open an account with a very careful person I did my research about at least I thought I did my research over the next couple of months Melissa transferred three hundred thousand dollars to the account via a cryptocurrency wallet At first she was able to withdraw the money but soon became victim to what's known in China as Pig butchering pump the pig apparently I yeah like they're raising pigs they're gonna fan up the pig which is fan of the the victim and then once it's it's fat and juicy which is when they get a lot of money out of us then they're just gonna butcher us my scammer he got as much money out of me as as they can and then he disappeared Melissa then discovered the scammers were not in the United States but in Southeast Asia it was just a horrible feeling I don't know if I will ever I don't know find Justice because he's in Cambodia but on the other side of the world Melissa's scammer may also be a victim for almost 40 years Cambodia has been ruled by prime minister one sen and his Cambodian People's Party repressive and brutal he his family and his cronies treat the country like their own business Empire Cambodia has long been regarded as one of the most corrupt countries in Asia but in the past few years corruption fear has taken on a whole new dimension the country becoming a Haven for ruthless International criminals across Cambodia compounds like these surrounded by barbed wire fences have cyber scam operations run by Chinese Nationals there are thousands of people in Cambodia being forced to work in scamming compounds Jake Sims heads head zambodia its organization has been involved in rescuing Nationals from across Asia entrapped in compounds they're consistently reporting that there are guards armed guards preventing them from leaving the building so we know that there's confinement going on there's reports of people being beaten they're told if they call the police that they're going to get beaten they're threatened to be sold at what appear to be marketplaces where humans are sold for thousands of dollars to conduct these scamming operations compounds are impenetrable to Outsiders but on the outskirts of the capital PanAm pen there's a hotel that's become a safe house for Chinese Nationals rescue from behind their walls volunteer Louisiana hears it all his phone is full of messages from Chinese citizens desperate to be free from scam companies how many do you receive a day around him persons the new one every day yes one victim sends photos of his injuries and rights [Music] then there's videos of abuse Lou says he receives them directly from victims inside the scam industry or finds and posted in Social Media Group chats they're shocking but they capture a reality Lou says he knows firsthand married with a child and working in the financial securities industry in China in late 2020 Lou quit his job to learn how to run a business traveling to Cambodia to help manage a friend's restaurant but covert hit the restaurant closed and Lou was stranded and that's when a regular customer offered him a job he'd regret accepting but on arriving at the company he discovered he'd been sold to a scam syndicate
foreign foreign
other survivors at the safe house reveal they were traffic from China into the scamming industry to protect their identities we've given them pseudonyms married with a toddler and a new baby Ming answered an ad on WeChat for office work in Cambodia the promised salary was 10 times higher than what he was earning in waste recycling foreign was working in a Hot Pot restaurant when a man she knew offered her a much higher paid typing job in guansi Province on the border with Vietnam but after accepting it she and a friend found themselves being driven out of the country doesn't and things got more terrifying as they were LED on Fort across a mountain range
23 year old Chef Chen answered an ad to promote online games 24 year old aspiring golf coach Hong signed up to be a quality controller in a food factory both men had their flights and covid-19 quarantine paid for but when they arrived for their first day at work they discovered they'd been duped away
all of these victims were locked up in compounds five hours Drive Southwest of the capital in the city of sanukville a massive influx of Chinese investment has seen it develop from a sleepy Beachside town to a dangerous Casino Metropolis where organized crime and Corruption flourish in the past few years Sienna has become Ground Zero for human trafficking and slavery in many of the buildings in the city people are held against their will and forced to scam across the world foreign it's often weak in highly corrupt governments that are allowing these sorts of activities to take place a fluent Mandarin speaker Jason Tower is a security expert who's been tracking Chinese scam syndicates operating across southeast Asia it's the first thing they do on arrival in Cambodia is they will work to build close relationships with extremely senior leaders if you start to look at you know who are the names on the titles of some of the businesses that hold the buildings in which these activities take place you'll find that there are people who are closely connected to the highest levels of leadership in in Cambodia scattered around the city the light of day reveals the size of the scamming sites this is known as Crown Industrial Park it's owned by Crown Resorts a subsidiary of anco Brothers a company owned by government senator kokane security guards uniforms are emblazoned with a badge for his andco water supply lucianry says he was entrapped here foreign on his second day in captivity Lou emailed the Chinese Embassy he was advised to call the sea knockfield police
foreign Facebook messages to the scenic Bill governor but the police never came oh yeah five days Lou says the managers then sold him to another scamming company foreign he was then forced into a car and driven to this compound bearing the signage k99 a company owned by a relative of Senator cochan his son-in-law's brother Richie ruksmai and what happened while you were there coincidence down Luke contains it was this man who was reportedly found hanging just hours later because at k99 he was spared physics physical harm sold again this time for eighteen thousand dollars to Yin Jin Casino yeah foreign 's governor with a contact for his assistant within 24 hours police were on their way but many others suffer for much longer these messages were sent to Lou by a victim held in Sea nookville in February 2022 he also shared this extortion video his captors forced him to send to his family half an hour after getting three thousand dollars his captors raised the threats and demands he sent these photos of the building and the street below to help Rescuers locate him but another day passed
so this is the shop front that the man photographed and this is the compound he said he was imprisoned in the building is connected to nanhai International Hotel a development closely linked once again to cochan's relative Richie ruxmai the victim was rescued but others do risk jumping to escape like Ming after being traffic from China he says he was sold for almost five thousand dollars to accompany in another scene up for compound he says he was made to scam Targets in China and around the world and was traded between companies on different floors he wasn't even now in the early hours of June 29 2021 Ming evaded security guards and jumped from the first floor but he landed badly sir seriously injuring himself foreign driver who put him to the hospital about five kilometers across town is Victory Paradise Resort and Casino expecting to start work as a quality controller in a food factory Hong was instead delivered to a scam business here
hangs in real estate is closely linked to one of the largest conglomerates in Cambodia the prince group standing next to the prime minister is Prince group chairman chinese-born chenzie granted Cambodian citizenship in 2014 six years later he received the country's highest honorary title opnea for his donations to Public Works and was also made an advisor to hunsen like all victims we interviewed when Hong arrived he was made to surrender his passport and sign a contract that bonded him to the company foreign he was then confined to the compound and ordered to scam says they'd contact victims normally uneducated Farmers on Chinese social media app QQ build a relationship then entice them to make investments in a lottery foreign there were a couple of hundred people scamming for the company and the success rate was high foreign
Enterprises appear to operate with impunity so the prime minister's summer residence is just there and across the road is White Sands Hotel and Casino and behind the white sand company is you Ling Zhong often seen with the Prime Minister he's in business with the daughter of hunsen's personal security Chief a man who's been sanctioned by the US for human rights abuses knowing in his homeland as a father of pyramid schemes used being implicated in numerous criminal fraud cases there and after losing several civil cases had assets Frozen by Chinese courts in 2018 he became a Cambodian citizen changing his name to Poe chunnit and set himself up as a cryptocurrency guru sixteen-year-old Lynn says she was sold to White Sand Palace Hotel in August 2021 restricted to the upper levels these photographs lean talk show The View over the prime minister's residence she says she was forced to do sex scams
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she tells how she and others were constantly abused by the company um and according to Lynn he also came into the dormitory when they were sleeping foreign
to block out the horror she started taking sleeping tablets the whole church then one day after three months imprisoned it all got too much foreign because they are trying to find Jehovah Louisiana which is where Lucy Henry's team picked her up and took her to a safe house not far away is this large compound known as white sand too Chen was brought here in May 2021 he was told he needed to work for the business for six months or pay them more than six thousand dollars to leave foreign
days on a cryptocurrency romance scam targeting wealthy Chinese women living abroad the first thing they had to do was create a fake persona using videos and photos from the internet foreign
victim Melissa Chin's testimony is hard to listen to that's the script that my scammer used on me you know they're using sad stories you know to to to get more money out of out of us and my scammer used the the plot that his his girlfriend cheated on him they have scripts for him pretty much for everything but for Melissa it wasn't just about money I think the the hardest impact on me it was the emotional side they they used me when when I was most vulnerable when I was most lonely you want to trust people and believe them but after being scammed how can you trust anyone anymore chin certainly couldn't trust his captors just day shy of six months at White Sand two and his promise Freedom he was sold not far from's tranquil Shores is a Precinct known as Chinatown
on street level we secretly film the steel bars inside a restaurant barber shop and Pharmacy preventing those inside the compounds from escaping a police station is right on the corner which were you Hong spent nine months enslaved he was sold to four different companies here each time his price and debt to the company increasing your hair power ful guitar he spent most time in this Chinatown compound known as Jin sway it's owned and developed by Yunnan Jing Chang group headed by chinese-born now Cambodian National dongla Chung frequently seen with the Prime Minister Hansen in 2008 dong was convicted of money laundering in China then he's been at the center of multiple bribery cases there You know despite the fact that he had been involved in giving those bribes somehow he he never had to really serve time he then sort of seems to have shifted and moved off to Cambodia in Cambodia dongla Chung's done business deals with Senator Cochran's relative Richie ruxmai and is not only involved in major development projects like this one but also heads up a bank and an airline in 2018 he provided a luxurious jetliner to fly hunsen and his Entourage to a UN General Assembly meeting in New York I guess offering perks like this certainly is one way to develop a business in a a country where you know rule of law is is not so present Hong's first stint at dongla Chung's ginsway compound saurum confined to this building according to Hong the criminal Enterprise he was forced to work for targeted people who had already been scammed what's up and then when victims wanted to withdraw their money the practice of pig butchering would begin foreign four months on Hong was desperate to get out he found louisianree's volunteer team online they reported his case along with four others to the National Police but before he was rescued Hong says he was locked in a tiny room for three days without food or water
next to Jean sway is a compound known as kybo or KB KB hotel and casino front the street once again government Senator kokane has close ties to the site his recently deceased son-in-law Ricky sumnung was chairman of KB hotel until his recent death but some lungs business partner KB hotel director Zhu Amin is of even more interest here he's another convicted criminal in 2013 China issued an Interpol read notice against him after a Chinese Court sentenced him to 10 years in jail for masterminding an illicit International gambling ring worth 1.75 billion dollars this is another pattern that we've seen where people who are convicted criminals somehow were able to abscond and really continue doing the same sorts of criminal activity that they'd been doing back in China without any form of of repercussions or or punishment pictured here with Richie sumnung and the National military police Commander the Chinese fugitive is also wanted in Hong Kong for money laundering and has had his HSBC Bank accounts Frozen so you can see that the methods that the criminal networks are using I mean they're they're co-opting Elites uh that offer them protection from local law enforcement but also from international law enforcement including law enforcement back in China at the notorious KB compound Chen says he was confined in building five foreign cryptocurrency investment scam is hidden hidden behind its walls using China's ban on bitcoin as the premise Chen says the company Spiel pretended to offer victims the chance to profit from wealthy Chinese um foreign they then get victims to download the company's fake platform and also a legitimate crypto exchange platform like Finance or coinbase the scam company had tricked the victim into giving it access to their crypto wallet yeah
and the company would then watch and wait as the victim s um and from what chin tells us the company was using sophisticated technology that allowed each worker to Target at least 500 people a day foreign
software also enabled them to log into 20 to 30 WhatsApp Accounts at the same time and instantaneously translated messages
after two months in the KB compound Chen and a friend tried to escape squeezing through the bars in a room off the canteen the next day still handcuffed together they were dragged to the office and beaten foreign to a friend four days later shows his injuries six weeks on other wounds are still obvious foreign Chen says the manager demanded they each pay a fine of fifteen thousand dollars threatening to sell them to another company if they didn't comply um
Chen's sister paid the money and then sent more for eign governor and through him the police
foreign weddings in Cambodia including Chinese Thais Indonesians Vietnamese Malaysians and Burmese but the province's Deputy Governor long De Monte claims most complaints of trafficking and confinement by scam companies are fabricated and merely contract disputes they are bondage of these and they are not okay but please let him finish I think that uh what I have talked uh he didn't finish yet and then he will tell you it was more of the same time but he refuses to say which ones pictured at an official occasion with dongla Chung the Tycoon behind scam compounds in sway the Deputy Governor claims he's never heard of neighboring compound director Zhu I'm in despite the fugitives high profile including a road named after him so were you looking to Zhu and Ben and the Interpol red notice you know we are a local government we are you know our jurisdiction we have you know Limited when we raise Senator cochan's Crown industrial park and complaints made by Louisiana and other victims directly to the governor and police they're apparently not validated and as far as complaints from Thai authorities that some 3 000 of their Nationals are enslaved by scamming syndicates he's derisary it is very difficult for me to believe it but if you get a strong evidence we bring the offenders to to the court for the judgment I think maybe that's enough heading out of saying we travel 400 kilometers Northwest to a site where more than 100 ties were freed in November 2021. so this is a special economic zone in Passat and just over there is the Thai border as you can see there's absolutely nothing around except for this compound where many of the victims have told us that they were confined
Hong was here in July 2021 please 16 year old Lynn was trafficked from China to scam operations here in early 2021. foreign was brought from China to the compound after accepting a job promoting online games but instead it was an online gambling scam s foreign foreign by Cambodian Tycoon tree pip a former adviser to Hoon sen in 2019 he was sanctioned by the U.S for large-scale corruption and environmental destruction his house overlooks the compound locals like this woman tell of Horrors inside foreign recalls this happening to those who try to escape foreign so what is the owner of the Zone providing I mean you might even call it a special criminal Zone in that they're providing a place beyond the rule of law they're providing a place where people who want to um be involved in all sorts of fraud or other illicit activities can safely base themselves right they're not the ones actually perpetrating the crimes they're just trying to provide a good environment for the criminals the buses at the compound bear the signage of Chinese conglomerate hung hoo tree pip is a company chairman ship hung was sold to a company here from sea nookville's Infamous KB compound KB and hung her are intimately entwined they share directors china-born now Cambodian citizen with a new name Chen Arlen is a director of KB and numerous hung her companies so too was Sue jongjian who also had other businesses with KB directors Senator cochan's son-in-law Richie samnung and fugitive Zhu I mean but perhaps of greatest significance is another director of several hung her companies including a bank prime minister Hansen's nephew hunto reportedly suspected by Australian police of drug trafficking I think this is uh really just more of an indication of how embedded these criminal networks are becoming in a country like Cambodia we are the head of cambodia's National Committee for counter-trafficking Chu bonang about the rescue of Thai Nationals from the hung her compound even though hundreds of people have been rescued no charges have been laid against that company or any individuals linked to it I don't believe so because the judge can be take time you know to make decisions but when we raise the fact that individuals close to the Prime Minister are linked to the site her knowledge of the case suddenly evaporates he's sort of concern to you that this Zone owned by tree pip who has been an advisor to the prime minister is the site of human trafficking and illegal Global scams you see actually I do not have familiar with this case but you can contact a relevant Authority is closer but trafficking is your issue are you not concerned being trafficked this case is one case so it seems like but it did involve hundreds of people also the compound has links to the prime minister's nephew hunto so so let me check first because I do not familiar with this okay I mean does that concern you that a large Chinese company linked to the prime minister's nephew is is linked to human trafficking and cyber scams yeah I think that you may uh what we call aware I did more than me okay okay so uh so uh stop by here I will come to my stuff to get my phone when she comes back her call to a departmental official delivers no answers he said that the operation is not under the responsibility of anti-driving unit so it seems like that Beyond you know our responsibility even though Chu bonang is also a secretary of state of the Interior Ministry that oversees the National Police and liaisers with international law enforcement authorities including Interpol fugitives like KB compounds you I mean are also Beyond her responsibility as a long time member of this government yes are you not concerned that you come in a wanted fugitive is able to set up a company in Syria said that we are not concerned you know because we have our how is he able to set up a company in this country that ends up being involved in human trafficking and cyber scams worth millions of dollars how is that possible it seems like there are the responsibility in different units you know so if they just doing on that you know how I can interfere because I think that the The Authority you know they aware about that you I mean another individuals named in the program didn't respond to allegations raised
except for the prime minister's nephew hunto when he's not in Switzerland with his family he's often in Australia's Southeastern City Melbourne where he has a company owns real estate and drives a Lamborghini it's Marianne Jolly from Al Jazeera when we visit his family home we're told he's not there but in a message to 101 East he declined to be interviewed stating he's not a competent authority to deal with the said issues and not aware of any cyber scam operations back in Phnom Penh the suffering of victims of the scam industry continues lucianry is still Fielding cries for help on his phone and assisting those already rescued foreign this 27 year old jumped from a scam compound in January 2022 in the northern Thai Border City of poipet it's been the scene of numerous rescues of Thai Nationals but the belt he attached to the railing broke
foreign foreign dragged him back to the to the clowned where he says his boss extorted thirty thousand dollars from his family before sending him to hospital and his family paid another fifteen thousand dollars for his surgery unable to afford to recover in hospital all he wants is to go home to them
into Thunder is something beautiful other Chinese victims are also waiting the covert border restrictions to be lifted in their Homeland and for new travel papers after a year away Ming's newborn son is now walking is foreign and he's one of the lucky ones many thousands are still waiting to be freed while Chinese scam syndicates act with impunity in a country where corruption has no limits