With the domestic heavy blow to telecom fraud , a large number of telecom fraud gangs have now mostly moved abroad. In the past five years, northern Myanmar has gradually become the preferred place for these fraud gangs.
Returned personnel live in the dormitory where a suspected fraud company in northern Myanmar is located. Photo provided by the respondent
Recently, public security organs in many places across the country have issued notices on persuading people stranded in northern Myanmar to return. Northern Myanmar once became a hot word for search.
Northern Myanmar, that is, the northern region of Myanmar. Jian Kunyi, director of the Practice Center of the School of Law of Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, which studies cross-border organized crime, said that most of the northern Myanmar regions bordering China are divided into multiple special zones, which have their own armed forces and are not controlled by the Myanmar central government. For economic benefits, some places will not only acquiesce and condone criminal acts such as telecommunications fraud and gambling, but also some powerful and powerful people will participate in the interests of criminal groups.
With the domestic heavy blow to telecom fraud, most of the telecom fraud gangs have now moved abroad. In the past five years, northern Myanmar has gradually become the preferred place for these fraud gangs.
htmlIn early June, the reporter interviewed three people returning to China from North Myanmar in Dangyang, Hubei. In October 2020, the three of them also went to northern Myanmar to seek wealth. According to the three people, they lost their personal freedom as soon as they arrived in northern Myanmar. Not only did they not make money, they were also coerced to engage in illegal activities such as telecommunications fraud, and finally got out after paying the "ransom".
Dangyang Police revealed that at the end of May 2021, the Dangyang Municipal Public Security Bureau had filed a case against Liu Hao and others for suspected criminal crossing the country's border. Among the dozens of people returning from northern Myanmar to northern Myanmar, most of the people returning from northern Myanmar to end with administrative penalties. criminal case was filed for , which is the first case.
The interior of the BOSS city shared by netizens on a short video platform. Video screenshot
Smuggled into northern Myanmar
Li Lei is 25 years old this year and is from Zhaohu Village, Herong Town, Dangyang, Hubei Province. On June 10, 2021, a reporter from the Beijing News met Li Lei at the Dangyang Criminal Investigation Brigade. He was about 175cm tall and thin. During the conversation, he had questions and answered questions and spoke smoothly. He kept sitting with his knees together and his upper body leaning forward, and rubbed his hands from time to time.
Li Lei recalled that one day in late September 2020, junior high school classmate Liu Hao came to him and said that he had a good job opportunity in Myanmar , and he could earn 10,000 or 20,000 yuan a month, and asked him if he would go.
Li Lei said that he and Liu Hao are junior high school classmates, often play games together, and have frequent contacts with each other and are very close. According to Liu Hao's suggestion, "find a few more relationships with each other, and if you have something to do, you can take care of each other." Li Lei also found his neighbor Xie Yong, who was from his hometown, to accompany him.
Li Lei’s home is a two-story building built by the self-built house, located on the side of the road across the village. There is a small supermarket on the first floor. Li Lei's father was put into jail for being involved in the case. His mother worked outside for a long time and only had grandparents at home. Xie Yong's family is about one kilometer away from Li Lei's family. Xie Yong's father said that he and Li Lei's father were "brothers of brothers". The two families knew the roots and the relationship between the two children was also very good.
Xie Yong's father thought that Xie Yong was a bit "high-minded" in his work, and always wanted to do big things and make big money, but he was unwilling to endure hardships and work hard; Li Lei was a sensible and introverted person, he didn't talk much, and respected his elders very much.
In the police interrogation record, Liu Hao confirmed that it was indeed the one he found Li Lei first, and then Li Lei took Xie Yong to Myanmar with him. Liu Hao said in the transcript that in the second half of 2020, he lost 400,000 to 500,000 in online gambling. The gambling website also publishes recruitment information. The work content is to attract people to the gambling platform and earn commissions. Earning tens of thousands of yuan per month is not a dream, "I was moved at that time."
What exactly does it do when you go to Myanmar? The three people have different statements.Li Lei said that Liu Hao was talking about going to an entertainment venue in Myanmar to cook for people; Xie Yong told reporters that Li Lei and he were talking about doing projects; and Liu Hao's transcript was: pulling people into gambling platforms to earn commissions, and said Li Lei was aware of this.
According to Li Lei and Xie Yong, on September 28, 2020, Xie Yong in Wuhan, Li Lei in Dangyang and Liu Hao met in Yichang urban area. On the 29th, they flew from Yichang to Kunming and transferred to Cangyuan Wa Mountain Airport in Lincang City.
Li Lei recalled that on the evening of September 30, 2020, they were led by the snake head who assisted in smuggling, and hiked across the border in the rain overnight according to the instructions of the gambling platform customer service. "The air tickets and toll fees to Myanmar are reimbursed."
Liu Hao also mentioned in the interrogation record that the toll fees for the three people are borne by the gambling platform for recruiting workers, and the smuggling process is carried by the snake head according to the customer service instructions.
Li Lei introduced that at 7 or 8 o'clock on October 1, 2020, they arrived at the destination of this trip, the BOSS City in the Hedao Development Zone, northern Myanmar.
On a short video platform, there are people suspected of the BOSS City of Never Sleeping and netizens with the nickname "Lone Star" who share the interior of the entertainment venue many times, and attached a video with the text " Myanmar Second Special Zone , the BOSS City of Never Sleeping on Xintiandi Commercial Street, Hedao Development Zone, warmly welcome you!"
small advertisement pasted on the streets of northern Myanmar to assist in smuggling back to China. Photo provided by the interviewee
"work" to cheat people of money
According to Li Lei's description, the main building of the BOSS City never sleeps is a large courtyard composed of two four or five-story buildings. One is a work building for gambling and telecommunications fraud, and the other is the dormitory area for staff. The three were placed in a room on the third floor of the dormitory building.
Li Lei recalled that on October 2, 2020, the day after arriving at the BOSS City never sleeping, the three of them were confiscated their mobile phones and then taken to a room on the fourth floor of the work building for business training. There were several long tables in that room, and more than 30 computers were placed on the table. Each person is equipped with a second-hand Apple phone and a computer, but the computer and mobile phone can only be used in the "office". On the day of training, they also sent a manual for fraud.
Xie Yong's story and Liu Hao's interrogation record to the police both mentioned details such as the surgical manual used for training, the confiscation of mobile phones when entering the workplace.
Li Lei introduced that the content of working in Myanmar was to collect the post content of rich people on Weibo , and then copy and paste it on the "Friends" of personal social platforms.
"That second-hand Apple mobile phone downloaded more than 20 social software. At the beginning, it didn't add people, just posting "moments". The company requires each social APP to post two items every day. This stage is called "maintaining an account." Li Lei said.
Li Lei said that after four or five days of raising an account, they were asked to join people on a large scale in various social software, mainly women. In addition to rich people, they also have to play the role of women's suitors, care about their well-being and their preferences, gradually gain the trust of the other party, and during the chat, they focus on inquire about the other party's economic situation and investment intentions.
Li Lei said that when the customer trusts more, he will talk to the other party about money only. This is a time-consuming process.
According to Li Lei, the staff will also cooperate with each other and jointly hunt for "customers". According to him, the "company" has a group called "She is in the same boat", most of which are employees. Whenever a customer is pulled in, the employees will pretend to chat about each other's profits and perform for customers to see. Customers who want to make quick money will ask in private. "At the beginning, I would tell customers some conventional financial management methods, and only after the customers trusted them, I would talk about online gambling."
Li Lei explained that the so-called online gambling is to place bets on gambling websites by choosing to buy big and buy small, buy odd and even numbers, and the odds are often doubled. If you successfully cheat money, you will give employees a commission based on the fraud amount by 1%. And those gambling websites are actually manipulated by the "company". "If they want you to win, you will win, and if they want you to lose, you will lose. "
During the interview, Li Lei often needs to silently recall the above experience. Even if the problem involves suspected crimes during the communication process, he rarely uses words such as "can't remember clearly" and "do not know".
Xie Yong told reporters that he only heard the introduction of the "company" in the training. He pretended to be a "rich second generation" to cheat women's money, and "get close" to people by making boyfriends and girlfriends. The ultimate goal is to cheat people gambling or investment.
For issues such as fraudulent links and speech content, Xie Yong often responds with "forgot, didn't participate, didn't know".
The content of "work" mentioned in the interrogation record is to promote gambling platforms, attract people to earn commissions, and post information such as gambling website links to friends circles.
Li Lei and Xie Yong told reporters that because they do not want to do illegal things such as scamming others' money and are worried about their own safety, they wanted to leave at the beginning of their entry into Myanmar, and stayed in Myanmar for less than a week and did not participate in the actual links of fraud transactions. Liu Hao also confessed to the police that after doing the gambling platform publicity for a few days, he turned into a waiter and did not do anything to cheat money.
6 On June 14, Li Lei's home in Herong Town. Beijing News Reporter Wu Xiaofei Photo by
"Once you come in, it will be difficult to get out."
According to Li Lei, there are several security guards holding long guns at the casino and yard entrance of the BOSS City. On the dormitory building, there are two guns standing guard on each floor, and there are also patrolling around the yard. Xie Yong also said that the BOSS City City is "there are thugs wearing security uniforms everywhere."
"It is normal to see people holding guns in northern Myanmar. " Yunnan University of Finance and Economics , director of the Practice Center of the School of Law, which has long studied cross-border organized crime, said that the northern Myanmar region is divided into multiple special zones, which have their own armed forces and are not controlled by the Myanmar central government. "The gun holders have local armed forces, militias, and may also be security guards in the casinos. "
" The first night I arrived at Hedao, I wanted to leave. "Li Lei said that on the night of check-in, he told the people of the "company" that he wanted to go out to buy some fruits and daily necessities, but was not allowed. The "company" said that "outside is messy, and not allowing it to go out is for everyone's safety considerations." But he knew that this was actually restricting personal freedom. At that moment, he suddenly realized that "once you come in, it will be difficult to go out."
Li Lei said that on the evening of October 1, 2020, the three of them held a small meeting and decided to pretend to obey, understand the environment and then leave. "At that time, we felt that there was only one way ahead, that is, be obedient, otherwise we might be locked up and beaten, and safety was not guaranteed at all. "
Xie Yong confirmed Li Lei's above statement, saying that "you can't get out at all." He once saw someone who fled without success and was caught by the security guard of the "company" and beat him to "can't stand up" in front of all the employees.
Li Lei recalled that on October 7, they "showed off to the boss "I'm leaving. The boss is a middle-aged man with a Fujian accent. He is less than 170cm tall and is relatively thin. His skin is yellow and black. The boss said he could leave, but he had to pay for more than 20,000 yuan per person. "It's the air ticket money, smuggling fee and living expenses that we got over."
" The boss said that the money must be in place within two hours, otherwise we will be locked in the water prison. "Xie Yong said that at that time they were still lucky and thought that these were just threats, until someone brought a person who was covered in wounds and seemed to have been hungry for many days. Li Lei and Xie Yong said they were scared and immediately contacted relatives and friends in China to raise money.
"I just got off work that night. He called me and said he had been cheated in Myanmar. He asked him to commit fraud there and he would not do it. If he wanted to leave, he had to pay 20,000 yuan. If he didn't pay, he would be locked in the water prison." Xie Yong's father said. "There are also Li Lei and a man with a Guangxi accent on the other side of the phone. The Guangxi accent said that he was the one who bet them to pay the money."
call record shows that between 8:00 and 11:00 pm on October 7, 2020, Xie Yong made more than 20 calls to his father. "He was very anxious at that time, and his voice was very scared. He called and urged him over and over again."
Xie Yong's father recalled that night he also spoke to Li Lei's mother to discuss solutions together. At that time, the two families planned to call the police, but considering that Xie Yong and Li Lei were abroad, the domestic police could not rescue immediately. In order to ensure the safety of the two, they decided to raise money to redeem the people first.
Xie Yong's father said that because of the limited WeChat balance, he immediately contacted his wife and nephew and asked them to send money to Xie Yong together. "I transferred 5,000, my wife transferred 10,000, and my nephew transferred 5,000."
Li Lei’s mother introduced that Li Lei’s ransom was 15,000 yuan from Li Lei’s uncle, 5,000 yuan from coach Li Lei, and some were pieced together by relatives and friends. This is consistent with the transfer records provided by Li Lei. "He (Li Lei) has never asked for money from adults since he went to work as a teenager. He can't talk to me if he is not a fatal matter."
WeChat transfer records of Li Lei and Xie Yong showed that at around 11 pm on October 7, 2020, the two of them scanned the code to transfer 21,400 yuan to a person named "Aipin" respectively. "'Aipin' is the WeChat name of a supermarket owner near the casino." Li Lei said that the company does not accept electronic transfers, and can only use cash to pay, so they have to transfer money to exchange.
The reporter noticed that from October 7 to 8, 2020, there were records of multiple people transferring money to enter on WeChat, ranging from several thousand yuan to tens of thousands of yuan.
Xie Yong said that when he came, he secretly remembered a snakehead phone call. When he left, he called the snakehead to pick it up. It cost more than 8,000 yuan to smuggle it back. "They (snakehead) mainly recognize the money."
Xie Yong's father mentioned that in the early morning of October 8, 2020, after paying the money, he and Xie Yong called Xie Yong for a few minutes. At that time, Xie Yong said that he had contacted a snake head to pick them up. Xie Yong in the video was sitting in a driving car, next to him was Li Lei.
Li Lei and Xie Yong both believe that Liu Hao's behavior is suspicious. "Before he went, he told me that there was an uncle in Myanmar and he was doing a legitimate business. After he went, he was not like that... he didn't go with us when he left, saying that he had no money." Li Lei said, "I still don't know if he was cheated or cheated on us."
Liu Hao said in the police interrogation record that because he could not raise money, he did not go with Xie Yong and Li Lei. In March 2021, the epidemic broke out in northern Myanmar. He chose to surrender himself to return to China, but before returning to China, he still paid a "ransom" of 45,000 yuan.
National Anti-Fraud Center reveals criminal acts in northern Myanmar. Video screenshot
Police special operation to combat cross-border fraud
Police interrogation records record, in October 2020, Li Lei and Xie Yong were intercepted by Yunnan border defense when they returned to China. In March 2021, Liu Hao surrendered himself at the border police station.
Police officer Xiang Yang of Dangyang City Herong Town Police Station introduced that for those returning to the country in northern Myanmar, according to the requirements of the Dangyang Municipal Public Security Bureau, after they return to their registered residence after the quarantine period expires, they need to collect their biological information and make records. The transcript content focuses on interrogating their experience in northern Myanmar. "The main question is whether there are any criminal acts involving telecommunications fraud, cross-border gambling, etc.."
Xiangyang said that he recorded the transcript for Li Lei and Xie Yong in November 2020. At that time, no trauma was found on the two. "There was no information about northern Myanmar on their private phones. Those involved in telegram fraud usually had a working phone, which was basically impossible to bring back."
As for how to verify the authenticity of the information stated by people returning to Myanmar, Xiangyang revealed that those who work in northern Myanmar will retain a large amount of information about living and working in northern Myanmar, such as pictures, contacts, work unit certificates, etc. If the returnees cannot provide any verified information, "it is basically doing illegal things in northern Myanmar."
Xiangyang said that after the interrogation and collection of information from the local police station, the cases of returning people returning to Myanmar will be transferred to the Dangyang Municipal Public Security Bureau. Tang Guocheng, deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of Dangyang Municipal Public Security Bureau, revealed , In May 2021, Dangyang Municipal Public Security Bureau has filed a criminal case against Liu Hao and others for suspected crime of crossing the border of the country.
Xiang Yang introduced that Li Lei and Xie Yong are currently working in , Hubei Yichang , Wuhan, and Liu Hao is working in Guizhou.
Tang Guocheng believes that the difficulty in checking returnees in northern Myanmar is to verify whether the returnees are suspected of committing crimes. "In fact, many people are either fraud or gambling abroad, but after returning to China, they will conceal the part of their participation in the crime, and they will not bring back mobile phones, computers and other tools. Because it is very difficult to obtain evidence across the border. "
According to Xinhua News Agency , on April 8 this year, a national teleconference on combating and controlling new types of illegal and criminal activities of telecommunications networks was held in Beijing. Zhao Kezhi, member of the State Council and general convener of the Inter-ministerial Joint Conference on Combating and Controlling New Types of Illegal and Crimes of Telecommunications Networks, demanded that all measures of combating and controlling should be implemented in detail and in a solid manner, and to resolutely curb electricity The frequent occurrence of fraud crimes in the Internet of China is high.
Recently, the persuasion notices issued in many places have attracted widespread attention. The main contents of the announcements are mostly similar, mainly for persuasion people who secretly cross the China-Myanmar border and stay in northern Myanmar for illegal and criminal activities such as telecommunications and network fraud. Some media analyzed that due to the impact of the epidemic, Chinese police went abroad to carry out law enforcement cooperation, and it is difficult to involve stranding in northern Myanmar. The fraudsters "fight out". Through domestic pressure, persuading the people stranded in northern Myanmar to return has also become an important means to block the high incidence of telecommunications and network fraud crimes.
According to the official website of the Ministry of Public Security, on June 17, Liu Zhongyi, director of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, reported at a press conference that the Ministry of Public Security has made every effort to combat and control telecommunications and network fraud crimes, and has achieved significant results. This year 1 By May, a total of 114,000 telecommunications network fraud cases were cracked nationwide, more than 14,000 criminal gangs were destroyed, and 154,000 criminal suspects were arrested, an increase of 60.4%, 80.6% and 146.5% year-on-year respectively.
(At the request of the interviewees, Li Lei, Liu Hao, Xie Yong, and all in the article are pseudonyms)
