The "pig-selling" scam in Southeast Asian countries leaves the victim in a sad state of affairs. An international rescue organization conservatively estimates that more than 100,000 people have been imprisoned and forced to engage in fraud. It has also revealed that there are at least 33 parks involved, 30 of which are located in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
Cambodia Westport - Why did this Southeast Asian port, once known as "Little Shenzhen", turn into a "fraud paradise" and a "human hell" full of fraud, violence and crime?
▲Many industrial parks in Sihanoukville, Cambodia have become bases for fraud groups.
Sihanoukville of Cambodia is the abbreviation of Sihanoukville . Sihanouk is the surname of the former Cambodian king. His last prince lived in exile in Beijing for decades and died in 2012. The prosperity of the past few years was mainly driven by the hundreds of thousands of mainlanders who flocked to adventure, and Sihanouk became a common name in Chinese.
"Little Shenzhen" spreads the myth of getting rich.
Sihanoukville was originally just a small fishing village in Cambodia. In order to copy China's experience in establishing special economic zones during China's reform and opening up, the Cambodian government selected Sihanoukville to set up a special economic zone in 2016 to attract investment. There are hundreds of mainland companies Businesses move in. The Special Administrative Region also opened casinos for operation. The government issued 91 gambling licenses to Sihanoukville, and a large amount of foreign speculative hot money poured in.
According to local official statistics, after the opening of casinos in Sihanoukville, hundreds of thousands of people poured into Sihanoukville within two years. Among them, those who speculated on real estate were the most popular. Most real estate projects were also circulated among speculators. They did not catch up with the dividends of Shenzhen's reform and opening up. People regard Sihanoukville as a second chance in life and call it "Little Shenzhen".
▲Before the gambling ban in 2019, real estate speculation in Sihanoukville was in full swing, and various entertainment service industries were booming.
There are also many myths about getting rich overnight in local Chinese circles: renting land to build houses, opening KTV nightclubs and casinos, and wealth doubled dozens of times in a few months. There are more and more Chinese people coming to Sihanoukville to hunt for gold, and various Chinese signboards can be seen everywhere. According to local media statistics, 90% of the retail business is run by Chinese, and 150 of the nearly 200 hotels are owned by Chinese. In addition, there are 41 karaoke and dance halls, 46 massage parlors and nearly 400 Chinese restaurants.
Once upon a time, some mainland Weibo celebrities publicly advised netizens to "sell their houses in Shenzhen and move to Cambodia!" Investment experts strongly recommended the development prospects of Sihanoukville, including the influential Guangdong financial program host and a financial celebrity from Taiwan. Zui Lang Xianping also advocated that Sihanoukville’s “property market prospects are great”.
The gambling industry collapsed and prosperity came to nothing.
The casino license attracted a large number of gangsters and speculators to invest. The opening of casinos with hot foreign money drove real estate and other related industries, making the small fishing village of Westport prosper explosively. According to Hong Kong media reports, most companies in Sihanoukville are Chinese-funded, and many of their bosses are controversial. There are even the so-called "three giants" of black gold locally. Among them is the cross-border gambling leader She Zhijiang who was arrested in Thailand. His KK Park in Myanmar is notorious as the "Piggy Purgatory".
Hot money poured in and Sihanoukville exploded in prosperity. However, corruption, fraud, violence and other problems were also spreading rapidly in the local area. Some online gambling companies are affiliated with licensed casino companies to carry out illegal online gambling business, and a large number of Chinese people have been deceived into Sihanoukville to engage in online gambling fraud.
However, this lively wave of real estate speculation did not last long. The rampant gangs in Sihanoukville led to the rapid deterioration of social order. Vicious real estate speculation also broke out in 2019 when an unfinished building collapsed, killing 28 people and injuring 26 others.
▲ Today’s Westport is left with a large number of unfinished projects.
A bigger turning point occurred in August 2019. Cambodia issued a "Gambling Ban", sealing up all illegal online gambling activities, criminalizing online gambling, and withdrawing the Sihanouk Casino license. The gambling industry collapsed overnight, real estate and other The industry also collapsed. According to rough statistics, there were as many as 1,155 unfinished properties left at that time, accounting for 70 to 80% of the total number of buildings in Sihanoukville.
Online gambling converted to fraud form
After the collapse, there were fewer gamblers and speculators in Sihanoukville, but gangsters who lost money in real estate still continued to compete for the last bit of profit in Sihanoukville. The name casino was gradually replaced by the so-called digital park, in which staff, both Chinese and foreign, had their personal documents confiscated.
They converted the original online gambling into a form of fraud, using high salaries as bait to lure more unexperienced young people to go to the local area. Finally, they used violence to coerce them into becoming slave labor in the fraud business, deceiving more people to go to Sihanoukville; or were They were used as meat tickets to directly extort money from their families. Some of those who paid the ransom had their organs harvested and sold.
These workers who were deprived of their freedom worked for more than ten hours a day and were treated like slaves... Many people were very pessimistic and desperate. Some people continued to commit suicide or were beaten to death.
▲During their imprisonment, some people were locked up, beaten, or even tortured with electric batons by members of the group because of unsatisfactory "performance" in fraud or attempts to escape.
A Tsang, a young man from Hong Kong who escaped from the devil's cave, described, "The park is surrounded by high walls and electric grids, and there are heavy soldiers at the entrances and exits. I heard that some people successfully escaped, but many failed, and the end was miserable. I didn't want to die, so I could only pretend. Be honest, save yourself the torture, and wait for the opportunity to leave. "
In Sihanoukville, there are actually dozens of different parks, and each park may have at least hundreds of fraudulent companies. They are mostly hidden in casinos, hotels, residential developments and commercial buildings, and many are covered with barbed wire and mountain entrances are tightly guarded. Some of these fraudulent companies were opened by mainland Chinese, while others were owned by Taiwanese.
A " piglet " sold for US$10,000
As early as March this year, Cambodian media had reported frequent local crimes, and many cases pointed to dozens of fraud parks in the city. However, local reporters have been intimidated by fraud groups, local officials, and the police, making them afraid to report news about this nearly " lawless " park. They believe that the exposed criminal behavior is only the " tip of the iceberg ."
The COVID-19 pandemic has made things even worse for Sihanoukville. Local gangs are even more unscrupulous in order to compete for profits. Due to the economic decline, gang conflicts for profit have become more intense. In 2021, 53 Chinese people were recorded to have been killed.
Some media have noticed the emergence of various criminal incidents as early as 2019. Beatings and alleged murders have become common, and some people have even shot into the air. According to reports, a local kidnapping person can now be sold to a fraud syndicate for US$10,000. This amount of money is very attractive for the local average salary of about US$212, which is equivalent to 48 monthly salaries. The violent acts of the
gang were also reported by Cambodian media last year. After the official intervention, these companies with gang backgrounds in the park claimed that these people owed air tickets and travel expenses and were staying to work to repay debts or to wait for their family members to represent them. Only when the debt is paid can the person be released. The young people who were deceived came from various countries in Southeast Asia. In addition to mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, there were also victims from Malaysia , Thailand and other places.
The fraud group turned its attention to Hong Kong and Taiwan
The abnormal prosperity of Westport collapsed suddenly. It was a battlefield for adventurers a few years ago. Now it has become a "fraud paradise" and a hell on earth full of fraud, violence and crime.
Most of the victims of "pig selling" exposed this time are Taiwanese, and some Hong Kong people. However, most of the people who were deceived before were mainlanders. At the beginning of 2021, China implemented the "Great Encourage Return Operation" to allow many Chinese who have engaged in fraud in Southeast Asia to return home with punishments such as cancellation of household registrations and freezing of accounts.
In addition, due to the epidemic of the new crown epidemic, the Chinese Immigration Administration has strictly controlled and strictly restricted non-essential travel of Chinese citizens. The crackdown on telecom fraud has been increasing, blocking mainlanders' access to Cambodia. As a result, the fraud group began to recruit replacements in areas such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia where Chinese people gather.
▲ Hong Kong police uncovered a "pig-selling" syndicate, and the girl involved in the fraud was only 17 years old.
The fraud cases currently under the sun are just the tip of the iceberg. There are more victims who continue to be tortured in purgatory. If all parties do not actively rescue, more people will not be able to return home, or even die among the criminals. A concocted hell on earth.
The criminal activities in Sihanoukville have actually attracted the attention of China and Cambodia. In September last year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed during his visit to Cambodia that he hoped the Cambodian government would strictly control online gambling. In February this year, Cambodia-China Chamber of Commerce issued an open letter calling for the complete eradication of online gambling and telecommunications fraud groups in online investment parks and their derivative illegal activities.
As Taiwan and Hong Kong authorities launched operations, some imprisoned people have been rescued, and various places have also launched a crackdown on labor fraud. However, to avoid falling into the trap of a fraud group, the key is to rely on yourself. Pie-in-the-sky things such as a monthly salary of 100,000 yuan and online dating with beautiful women cannot be trusted. Be wary of those positions that do not require academic qualifications or experience but are extremely well-paid.
