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The hiding place of the “fraud center” in Myanmar is difficult to eradicate the transnational black industry network!
In areas bordering Myanmar with neighbouring countries, from Myawaddy, Tachileik, Mong La to Payathonsu, many places have become hideouts for “fraud hub” gangs.The investigation found that Shwe Kokko, a joint venture between the leaders of the Karen Armed Group (KNA) and Grey Capital, had originally migrated from Cambodia. These areas operate a one-stop gray industry chain, involving activities such as telecom fraud, casinos, online gambling, drug trafficking, and high-paying abduction.
Statistics show that at least 120,000 victims have been lured to Myanmar to become victims of human trafficking. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Att believes that the problem is difficult to solve because all parties have interests in these illegal industries. He criticized the Thai government for not putting in place effective measures, noting that anyone can become prime minister in such a way of working. He proposed five solutions at the same time.
On the other hand, the Thai police chief Pol. Gen. Thatchai revealed that Thailand is preparing to invite diplomats from 23 countries to discuss how to deal with it.
Below, Atta, a well-known Thai scholar.
The issue of transnational “fraud hubs” is attracting regional attention.
A series of gangs lure victims from various countries to work in Myanmar, and then force and torture them to become part of a telephone fraud ring by various means.
At the same time, the related black industry chain continues to expand, involving a variety of illegal activities, which has had a serious impact on the entire region. Thai media pointed out that even a large country like China has been affected, and many Chinese citizens have become victims.
Qiu Xin, head of the criminal investigation detachment of the Quanzhou City Public Security Bureau in Fujian Province, China, said that the suspects we captured confessed that one Chinese originally sold 20,000 or 30,000 yuan, and finally sold 340,000 yuan to one person, trading between various parks. Because some people don’t know how to type, they don’t understand computers, so they have been bought and sold repeatedly.
The Chinese criminal suspect Luo Mouliang was previously the “militia captain” of the “Ming Appliance Fraud Park” Wohu Villa. According to his confession, beatings, abuse, handcuffing and intimidation next to the tiger cage, and being locked up in a small black house are commonplace in various electric fraud parks, and they are staged every day.
In the park in Myanmar, if you communicate with the outside world through mobile phones, you will be punished by the criminal group, and some victims will be beaten to death with tungsten steel rods.
A few days ago, China’s Ministry of Public Security has sent representatives to meet with senior officials of the Thai National Police to discuss solutions to combat cross-border fraud and illegal activities.
Further in-depth discussions with Myanmar’s experts on economic, political and social issues are needed as to the sources, hiding places and possible solutions of these fraud rings and related illegal businesses.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Att Pisalvanich pointed out that the gray industry in Southeast Asia has spread in many countries and regions.
According to research, these illegal businesses are widely distributed:
Laos:In the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Bokeo province, the “Golden Kapok Group” (also known as the “Golden Triangle King Roma Casino”) concentrates casinos, grey industries, money laundering centers and fraud dens.
Cambodia:There are large-scale casinos and online gambling centers in Sihanoukville, which is also the main stronghold of telephone scam rings.
Similar illegal activities have also been observed in other parts of Cambodia such as Koh Kong, Pailin, Poipet, Oddar Meanchey and the capital, Phnom Penh.
Myanmar:Myawaddy’s Shwe Kokko became Myanmar’s largest grey industry hub.
Over the past three years, the region’s illicit networks have expanded rapidly and are now the largest black industry base in the entire region.
The boom in Myanmar’s grey industry, particularly phone scam rings, stems from the country’s long-standing conflict between ethnic armed forces and the military junta.
The civil war has dealt a severe blow to Myanmar’s economy and foreign investment, causing the junta and ethnic armed groups to turn to grey industries for funding supplies and weaponry due to a lack of revenue.
These illegal businesses include casinos, phone scams, human trafficking, and drug dealing.
The complexity of Myanmar’s problems and the lack of coherence in the political and governance systems make it extremely difficult to combat these illegal activities.
This situation has exacerbated Myanmar’s security and economic challenges, allowing the grey economy to expand further in the country.
Professor Atta further noted that although Myawaddy is nominally under the jurisdiction of the Myanmar military junta, there has long been a presence of ethnic armed forces in the region and a tacit agreement with the government on the distribution of benefits, such as cooperation in the transportation of goods and the collection of tolls.
However, since the military coup in Myanmar, the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) have emerged and joined forces with ethnic armed groups against the junta.
This has weakened the junta’s power and made it difficult to effectively control the situation in Myawaddy and elsewhere.
As a result, it has become extremely difficult for the Myanmar junta to solve the problem of Myawadi’s phone scam rings.
Especially in border areas, such as Shwe Kokko in Myawaddy and Tachileik in Shan State, the junta faces many obstacles in sending troops into these areas.
These strips have attracted a large amount of foreign grey capital and established illegal commercial bases in the Myanmar-Thailand border area, further exacerbating border security and governance challenges.
Professor Atta noted:
“Five years ago, phone scam rings were mainly active in Laos and Koh Kong in Cambodia.
Because of the political stability and unity of government in these countries, it is relatively easy to combat these groups.
When the Cambodian government began to crack down on illegal activities, the gangs moved their bases to Myanmar.
The complex situation in Myanmar involves multiple stakeholders, including independence forces, ethnic groups, and military juntas, all of which operate in silos, making it extremely difficult to combat the grey industry. ”
He further explained:
“If Thailand wants to cooperate with Cambodia to fight fraud rings, it only needs to deal directly with the Cambodian prime minister, but in Myanmar such cooperation becomes difficult because it does not know who to negotiate with.
Both the junta and ethnic groups are in dire need of money to fight.
In the war-torn situation, exports stagnated, investors were afraid to enter, industrial production was completely shut down, and tourism revenues fell sharply.
As a result, they are turning to grey industries for sources of income. ”
“At the moment, apart from casinos, telephone scams and human trafficking, the most lucrative industry in Myanmar is the drug trade.
Professor Atta concluded.
Origin of Myawaddy Park:
Cambodian ash production fattening Myanmar KNAThe origins of the grey industry in the Shwe Kokko (Water Valley) in Myanmar’s Myawaddy region can be traced back to 2019. At that time, the once-thriving grey industry in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, was gradually collapsing, leading foreign grey capital to shift the base of casino, online gambling and telephone scam rings from Cambodia to Myawadi’s “water valley”.
Located about 25 kilometres from Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge No. 1, the “Water Gully Valley” covers an area of about 720 square kilometres and stretches for 16 kilometres from Mae Sot to Mae Ramat in Tak Province in northern Thailand. Today, the area is one of the most important grey industry centres in Myanmar.
Today, Shwe Kokko has been designated as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Myanmar, and the grey industry in the area is dominated by Col Kokko, the current leader of the Myanmar Border Guard (BGF). Saw Chit Thu) is in charge of management. Currently, the BGF has been renamed the Karen National Armed Forces (KNA).
KNA’s leaders partnered with Yatai International Holding Group (IHG) to create the Shuigou Valley Special Economic Zone. The group was led by Cambodian Chinese She zhi Jiang, who was arrested in Thailand in August 2022 on suspicion of illegal online gambling in China.
The establishment of this SEZ has enabled the KNA leadership family in Myanmar to grow rapidly in wealth and expand its business to various sectors in Myawadi. At the same time, the group has expanded its gambling and online fraud operations in several areas along the Karen State border, further cementing its presence in Myanmar’s grey industry.
In the “Water Valley” area of Myawaddy, Myanmar, there are several well-known grey industrial bases, the most representative of which is KK Park. It includes casinos, online gambling and call centers across the street from Mae Ku in Mae Sot district, Tak Province, Thailand. The park is located in the KNA Deputy Commander Major Dengwin (Maj. Wing. Teng Win). The main investor is the Dongmei Group, a Chinese investment group chaired by Wan Kouk-koi, a former Hong Kong chieftain, nicknamed “Broken Tooth.”
There are also Yulong Bay Park and Apollo Park, both located along the Moei River near Mae Sot, near the Thai-Myanmar border, between Myawaddy city and the “Water Valley”. The two parks have become important strongholds for phone scam rings, from which fraudulent calls are made to various countries to trick victims into sending money.
In addition, the Myawadi area is also home to Dongmei Park, which is also one of the main strongholds of phone scam rings. The other is Myawaddy New City, which is home to casinos, online gambling and online scams near the Thai-Myanmar border. The project is co-owned by KNA’s core leaders with Singaporean and Chinese investors.
According to 2023 data, there are more than 30 scam companies along the Thai-Myanmar border, and this number is growing rapidly. These regions are becoming important concentrations of transnational fraud and grey industries, posing a major challenge to regional security and economic order.
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The Myanmar industry is too cunning:
Shifting all the time
According to reports available to Thailand, the activities of illegal underground organizations along the Thai-Myanmar border have been severely curtailed due to the military deployment of Thailand’s Third Army Region in the border area and strict border police inspections. As a result, foreign grey capital has begun to reroute and expand its activities to Mawlamyine, Myanmar, along the East-West Economic Corridor.
Since the beginning of 2024, the capital has moved further south to Myanmar’s Payathonsu region, which is close to the Three Pagodas Pass in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, which is part of Myanmar’s border with Thailand. The area was commanded by Colonel Col. Ivan at the Tactical Command Center No. 2. Aewan, also known as Pyao Lin, and his “Democratic Karen Buddhist Army” (DKBA) are under their control.
In addition to phone fraud rings, the region has become an important conduit for drug trafficking, smuggling of tax-evasive goods, and illegal immigration networks, which involve cross-border illegal activities between Thailand and Myanmar.
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Myanmar’s border has been hit hard
Professor Atta pointed out that Myanmar’s grey industries are mainly concentrated in several areas along the border, which have become hubs of illegal activities, including casinos, human trafficking, telephone scams, etc.
(1) Shwe Kokko, Myawaddy is located next to Mae Sot, Thailand’s
Tak province, an area with a concentration of casinos, population transfers, and phone scam rings.
(2) Tachileik, eastern Shan State
Located in the eastern part of Shan State, Myanmar, bordering Mae Sai County in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, it is dominated by casinos and drug dealing.
(3) Mong La, a northern
Shan State near the Chinese border, is known as the “Las Vegas of Myanmar” and is famous for its casinos. The area is also involved in legalized sex trafficking, endangered wildlife trade, and phone scam rings.
(4) Payathonsu, Kayin State
borders the Three Pagodas Pass in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, and is an active area for telephone scams, smuggling of goods, drug trafficking, and human trafficking.
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How to hit it thoroughly?
Thailand
Commenting on the negative impact of the activities of phone scams in Myanmar on the Thai people and the country’s image, Professor Atta believes that it is very difficult to solve the problem because there are multiple stakeholders involved. In particular, the Karen National Armed Forces (KNA) and ethnic minority forces have a huge presence in areas where telephone scams and grey industries are strongholds. At the same time, Myanmar’s military junta is weak and usually acts only when it has its own benefits.
As for the Thai cabinet, there has been no clear response under Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. “Every time the Prime Minister answers a question, he always says that he has referred the matter to the relevant department,” Professor Atta said. But how exactly is it handled? We don’t see concrete measures. The departments are also only acting in accordance with the law and regular procedures, and the results are naturally the same as before. In this way, it makes no difference who becomes prime minister. ”
Professor Atta proposed five measures that the government should take to prevent and reduce the damage caused by phone scam rings:
First, telecom operators need to be liableIf
the customer’s mobile phone information is leaked, the telecom company will be liable. Because it is the duty and responsibility of telecom operators to establish a system to prevent data from being hacked.
Second, the financial institution is responsible for the customer’s lossesIf
the customer’s bank account is stolen by a fraud gang through a mobile app, the bank is responsible for it. This is due to a vulnerability in the bank’s application system, which allows the fraud ring to illegally obtain customer account information.
Third, the Thai Cabinet should set up a special investigation agency
, and the Cabinet should set up a special investigation department to thoroughly eradicate the domestic telephone fraud network and take more stringent law enforcement actions.
Fourth, the whistleblowing reward system
provides incentives for reporting clues on telephone fraud rings and encourages the public to actively participate in anti-fraud actions.
Fifth, heavier punitive measuresStricter penalties will be imposed on fraudsters and their associates to deter and deter.
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Thai Police:
The 23 ambassadors will be united to discuss the proposalPol. Gen. Thatchai Pitaneelabut, head of the Thai Anti-Trafficking Centre and the Centre for the Prevention and Combat of Technological Crimes, revealed that Thailand will cooperate with China through the Joint Coordination Centre. In addition, the Thai National Police will soon invite ambassadors from 23 countries in Thailand to meet and exchange information on telephone scam rings in various countries with a view to further expanding operations and carrying out arrests.
“We will focus on countries where nationals have been lured into working for phone scam rings in Myanmar or other countries in the region,” Tachai said. These countries include Viet Nam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Ethiopia, among others, whose nationals often use Thailand as a transit route. Through the exchange of information, we hope to help people in these countries raise awareness and avoid being deceived.
He added: “If it is found that citizens of these countries are planning to travel to Myanmar through the Thai border crossing, we will coordinate with their embassy in Thailand to remind and advise these citizens to be vigilant and prevent falling into the trap of fraud rings.” ”
