Recently, some Hong Kong residents are suspected of being lured to Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries, and being imprisoned to engage in illegal work. The Hong Kong Security Bureau stated that since January this year, the Immigration Department and the police have received a total of 20 requests for help from family members of missing Hong Kong residents. It has been confirmed that 12 people are safe, 10 of them have returned to Hong Kong, and 8 are still missing. The Security Bureau attaches great importance to the incident and has set up a task force to follow up on requests for help.
According to the family members of eight Hong Kong residents who have not yet been contacted, they are all in Myanmar and their personal freedom is restricted. Deputy Director of the Security Bureau, Zhuo Xiaoye, said in response to a question from Phoenix TV that the SAR government would fully provide assistance . After the incident, the Hong Kong Security Bureau added a new "Overseas Work Scam" reminder to the overseas travel warning system on the official website. Members of the public are urged not to believe online job advertisements or messages easily, and to be wary of methods claiming to make quick money.
How were these people lured to Southeast Asia? What is the true face of the "high-paying job" scam? Has the difficulty of enforcing the law in cross-border crimes become a "protective umbrella" for fraudsters? How should citizens strengthen their prevention and detect scams?
Pig killing plate, gambling games, telecommunications fraud, behind this series of cross-border crimes is a huge gambling industry chain that has existed in Southeast Asia for nearly ten years and involves millions of people. Phoenix Satellite TV exclusively interviews people who have been involved in this illegal industry to reveal the operating model behind this gray industry chain.
Fatal temptation: Exclusive revelation of the Southeast Asian employment fraud bureau
These online gambling companies have so-called "legal" operating licenses in Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, and use the convenient loopholes of being abroad to commit telecommunications fraud. Behind this gray industry, the most important resource cost is the large number of so-called "customer service" personnel. Publishing extremely tempting recruitment information on various websites has become a channel to recruit "customer service". Such information in has two characteristics: ultra-low threshold and ultra-high income . A person who was deceived by a friend into Philippines and was forced to work in this industry revealed to Phoenix TV reporters that most of the people who were deceived were low-educated people who were tempted by the so-called "high salary".
Practitioners in the online gambling industry Wang:
html is a one-day job, or it is a platform that does not limit academic qualifications, and then uses high wages to defraud them to go to Southeast Asia to engage in illegal activities. Of course, they will modify it before going, saying it is similar to IT. In this industry, you don’t have to have any work experience, and there are no restrictions on your academic qualifications. As long as you know how to type, or if others can’t type, you can go.
The so-called "recruiter" will usually get in touch with the victim on forums, recruitment websites and other platforms, and then make further introductions.
Wang, a practitioner in the online gambling industry:
It can be said that the "upper family" comes into contact with the "lower family". If you have a registered account there, he can chat with you privately; if you post there, it is Or if there is a reply, he can chat with you privately according to the account above.
Subsequently, the intermediary will handle the exit formalities for the other party and travel to Southeast Asia. A large number of them do not know that they are about to face a very tightly managed telecommunications fraud assembly line. The confiscated passport is the so-called "regular" to facilitate the management of personnel by online gambling companies. Some of them will ask to return to their country after realizing they have fallen into a trap. Usually, these companies will forcefully detain the victims to do customer service work until the salary can offset the cost of the agency, air tickets, and work visas before releasing them.
These companies vary in size and can reach tens of thousands of people.Driven by huge profits and fueled by “grey policies” in many countries, Southeast Asia has become an industry center for telecom fraud, such as Manila in the Philippines, northern Myanmar, and Sihanoukville in Cambodia. In the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic and the severe crackdown on cross-border gambling by the Ministry of Public Security of China, while this gray industry has continued to flow in the above areas, some criminals have also transformed from simply detaining and forcing victims to work into more serious ones. Direct kidnapping, luring victims into a trap through recruitment information and then extorting them.
Wang, a practitioner in the online gambling industry:
was directly deceived after getting some information from the Internet. After the passport was confiscated, personal freedom was also restricted. These kidnappers will take strong personal measures to force your family. If you pay a large amount of ransom, some will release the ransom, but some will also kill people and silence them. They will find a place, deceive one or two, and all be imprisoned together. Then will torture you physically and mentally every day. will take some images of the abuse against you and send them back to your family, or Just call them right then and let them listen to your miserable screams.
The kidnappers will also investigate the victims to extort ransoms of different values, at least 500,000.
This interviewee revealed that the most fatal psychology of victims is the ambition for low pay and high returns, and the irrationality and lack of ability to distinguish right from wrong among low-educated and young people are also the biggest weaknesses exploited by criminals.
Many Hong Kong people were deceived into engaging in online fraud on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. Only the intervention of the Myanmar military could rescue the kidnapped persons.
After the Myanmar coup, wars occurred frequently on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. People's livelihood and economy were severely hit. Taking advantage of regional instability and difficulties in law enforcement, Political forces are in chaos, and areas controlled by local armed organizations on the China-Myanmar and Myanmar-Thailand borders have become strongholds for fraud groups to survive. The former Karen ethnic armed organization was reorganized into the Asia-Pacific New Town in Shuigou Valley, Myawaddy Town, under the jurisdiction of the Border Guard Army. It has become a gambling fraud stronghold. The Border Guard Army under the jurisdiction of Shuigou Valley is recognized by the Myanmar military. Although during the NLD government, there were plans to crack down on water The illegal gambling industry in Gogu has failed to materialize due to the interference of military forces. Currently, the Myawaddy and Shuigou Valley areas have become the base camps for online fraud.
Recently, some Hong Kong people are suspected of being lured to Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries and imprisoned to engage in illegal work. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassy in Myanmar are actively searching for the whereabouts of the missing persons.
A Myanmar driver who did not want to be named said that he has received people returning to China from the Myawaddy Valley many times. According to his experience, he learned that gambling companies use high-paying recruitment advertisements through online platforms to lure people who speak Chinese and English. People who knew how to operate computers came to Myanmar to work, and most of them arrived in Thailand and Laos through normal channels. After being taken to the Thai-Myanmar border, their phone number and passport were confiscated, and they were asked to do Internet fraud. If they tried to escape, they were caught and severely beaten.
There are dozens of gambling parks in Shuigou Valley. The entire park is controlled by the border guards recognized by the Myanmar military. Myanmar’s internal affairs and judicial units have no jurisdiction. Currently, the Thai-Myanmar border entry and exit clearance is closed. The victims who came to Shuigou Valley came from illegally entered Thailand into , which makes rescue more difficult. If you want to be rescued, the only channel is to contact the local border guard through the Myanmar military. Otherwise, the victim will have a chance to be released only if he meets the requirements of the fraud group.
The current security situation in Myanmar is complicated. In February, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China issued a special safety reminder to remind Chinese citizens to be cautious when traveling to northern Myanmar, Myawaddy and Tachileik areas, and to stay away from illegal activities such as online fraud and gambling to ensure personal safety.
The Hong Kong government has set up a task force to follow up on job deception cases in Southeast Asia.
The Hong Kong Security Bureau stated that since January this year, the Immigration Department and the police have received a total of 20 requests for help from family members of missing Hong Kong people. has confirmed that 12 people are safe, 10 of them have returned to Hong Kong, and 8 people are still missing. The Security Bureau attaches great importance to the incident and has set up a task force to follow up on requests for help.
According to the family members of eight Hong Kong residents who have not yet been contacted, they are all in Myanmar and their personal freedom is restricted. In an exclusive interview with Phoenix TV on the 18th, Hong Kong Deputy Secretary for Security Cheuk Hsiao-yip also said that the SAR government will fully provide assistance. The authorities attach great importance to the incident and have the responsibility to protect the personal safety of Hong Kong citizens. Regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong or not, they call on all Hong Kong residents Citizens should be vigilant.
Zhuo Xiaoye said that in July, the Hong Kong police had produced and broadcast a program about employment fraud cases, but he also admitted that the authorities needed to increase publicity. Zhuo Xiaoye said that the SAR government attaches great importance to the issue of human trafficking. The Immigration Department and the police have respectively introduced mechanisms to identify victims of human trafficking earlier. However, the difficulty lies in the fact that some victims are trafficked to third-party countries or regions and then transported to their destinations and hidden in hiding. As the authorities investigate, believes that the most important thing is for Hong Kong citizens to be more vigilant and wary of ways that claim to make quick money.
The Organized Crime and Triad Investigation Bureau of the Hong Kong Police has taken over the investigation of relevant cases and will maintain contact with law enforcement agencies in different jurisdictions and contact overseas law enforcement agencies through the Interpol platform to exchange intelligence and assist in follow-up investigations. After the incident, the Hong Kong Security Bureau added a new "Overseas Work Scam" reminder to the outbound travel warning system on its official website.
Hong Kong lawyer: If the fraudster is caught in Hong Kong, he will be jailed for up to 14 years.
In this case, in a cross-border context, can the fraudster be punished by law? Xiong Yunxin, former president of the Hong Kong Law Society and practicing lawyer, gave his answer in an exclusive interview with Phoenix TV.
Xiong Yunxin, former president of the Hong Kong Lawyers Association and practicing lawyer:
Cross-border fraud cases will immediately reveal problems. Can people from another place be arrested and charged in Hong Kong? Hong Kong must arrest suspects related to this criminal case. Unless this person really plays a role in the fraud in Hong Kong, of course if there is enough evidence, he can be prosecuted and convicted.
Behind large-scale cross-border fraud groups, the existence of intermediaries is indispensable. Many victims have fallen into the trap alone, lured by rhetoric and benefits. Xiong Yunxin pointed out that if intermediaries participate in conspiracy to commit fraud, they will face up to 14 years in prison if arrested in Hong Kong.
As the only president of the Hong Kong Lawyers Association who is engaged in criminal case litigation, Xiong Yunxin is very familiar with criminal cases. He pointed out that employment scams, online romance, investment traps, and guess who I are are all common tricks used by scammers. During the epidemic, deception methods have emerged in endlessly, but the Internet has become the "protective umbrella" for fraudsters. Even following the clues is not easy.
Xiong Yunxin, former president of the Hong Kong Law Society and practicing lawyer:
In fact, the number of reported cases has been much more, but the number of cases to be handled has not actually increased. Generally speaking, it is difficult to arrest suspects. If all of this happened in Hong Kong, I would definitely say that you don’t need to worry at all. As long as you bring the information, the Hong Kong police will be able to find it. But what I’m talking about now is that it happened in a second country, especially a place where there is a “three no-minds” policy.
According to Hong Kong police information, a total of more than 19,000 fraud cases were recorded in Hong Kong in 2021, of which 1,063 were online job search fraud cases. Xiong Yunxin, who has been working as a lawyer for 28 years, summed up the experience of "three measures" to prevent fraud when handling fraud cases, and hoped that the public would remain vigilant.
Xiong Yunxin, former president of the Hong Kong Law Society and practicing lawyer:
First, commonly known as "look in the mirror", measure the qualifications needed to give you a job; second, do you know the person who introduced you to the job? If you don’t know it, do you need to find more information? Third, once you decide to leave Hong Kong to do the whole thing, you should tell your family or friends all the information.
Xiong Yunxin believes that some people will believe in ways that claim to make quick money. The root cause is the mentality of greed for petty gains. As long as you keep your eyes open and remain vigilant at all times, you will not give fraud groups an opportunity.
Source: Phoenix TV Information Channel
Editor: Mumu
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