Fraud factory explained

A fraud factory, fraud park or scam compound is a collection of large fraud organizations usually involved in human trafficking operations, generally found in Southeast Asia and usually operated by a criminal gang. Fraud factory operators lure foreign nationals to scam hubs, where they are forced into modern slavery, to scam internet users around the world into fraudulently buying cryptocurrencies or withdrawing cash, via social media and online dating apps.[1] The typical scam is known as "pig butchering". Trafficking victims' passports are confiscated, and they are threatened with organ harvesting and forced prostitution if they do not scam sufficiently successfully. These operations proliferated in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and other countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and were further aided by civil war in Myanmar.

Nomenclature

The term fraud factory first appeared in a 2022 Sydney Morning Herald article about the Southeast Asian scams and human trafficking industry[2] and was coined by Jan Santiago of the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO), a victims advocacy group, in describing scamming operations in the region.[3] [4]

The term was used by Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the activity of trafficking victims to Asia where they use digital media to meet westerners and sell them cryptocurrencies.[5] In Chinese, the term "fraud industrial park" has emerged in reference to these operations.

Organization and ownership

Fraud factories are often operated by Chinese criminal gangs based in Southeast Asia. The gang's traditional revenue stream of gambling reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and their activities increasingly focus on fraud factories to regain lost revenue.[6]

Human trafficking victims

Between August and late September 2022, the Kenyan embassy to Thailand facilitated the rescue of 76 trafficking victims. The victims were mostly Kenyan, and included Ugandans and a Burundian. The criminal gangs who operate the fraud factories target young and educated Africans. In November 2022, one Kenyan died after a botched organ harvesting operation associated with a fraud factory in Myanmar.[7]

Myanmar is also an emerging destination for international labour trafficking, especially along its border areas.[8] Victims in Myanmar include nationals from throughout Asia, including China, Hong Kong, India,[9] Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines,[10] Taiwan,[11] and Thailand.[12] Victims are lured by the false promise of high-paying jobs, and are trafficked through major cities like Yangon and Bangkok, and transit points like Mae Sot and Chiang Rai. They are then forced to work in "special economic zones" along Myanmar's borders, such as Shwe Kokko.

In late 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Office estimated that at least 120,000 people in Myanmar were trafficked there and are being held in online scam compounds. At least 100,000 people are being held in similar circumstances in Cambodia. Other operations were also being run in Laos, the Philippines and Thailand.[13] [14]

Operations

In 2022, BBC News reported the locations of fraud factories as being in Laos and Myanmar, notably in Kachin where the Kachin conflict is occurring, a factor that makes rescues difficult. In 2022, The Japan Times reported that factories which initially started operations in Cambodia later switched locations to Laos, and that victims were held in special economic zones in Laos and Myanmar, specifically in Myawaddy, as well as casinos in Cambodia, particularly in Sihanoukville.[15] The trafficked victims are lured with job offers, with the BBC reporting one victim having traveled to Thailand for a job before being driven to Laos.

Fraud factory workers are trained to create online social media and dating personas, which they use to build up trust with westerners and engage in fake romance scams, with the goal of encouraging the westerners to buy cryptocurrencies. The targets of the bait and switch cyber crime were predominantly US citizens. The process of fraudulently building up trust with victims online in order to sell them cryptocurrencies is known as "pig butchering".

The trafficked Kenyans were prevented from leaving unless they paid 1.2 million Kenyan shillings and were threatened with forced sex work and organ harvesting if they did not meet work performance targets. Two victims who spoke to the BBC were rescued by Awareness Against Human Trafficking.

Traffickers confiscate their victims’ passports. Some trafficking victims have returned to Kenya with broken limbs, from beatings by their captors. Vietnamese charity organization Blue Dragon reported that trafficking victims forced to work in scamming operations in Myanmar, are forced to sell their organs if they fail to meet quotas.[16]

During the Myanmar civil war, the Three Brotherhood Alliance launched Operation 1027 against the Myanmar military regime on 27 October 2023, with one of the intended goals being to eradicate scam centers in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone along the northeastern border with China, which had grown frustrated with the Myanmar government's lack of response against fraud factories.[17] [18] On 5 January 2024, the alliance fully captured the city of Laukkai in Kokang from the Myanmar military, and soon more than 40,000 people involved in Kokang's fraud factories were returned to China.[19] [20] [21] Analyst Jason Tower called their operation "extremely successful" in eradicating scam centers from Kokang, although some syndicates were able to move their operations to Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar's Kayin State.[21] By March 2024, Brig. Gen. Zaw Min, a former Regional Operations Command (ROC) chief of Laukkai, was imprisoned by Myanmar's military government for his alleged role in online scam operations, and was later given a death sentence in July.[22]

In March 2024, the head of Interpol estimated that the combined profits of Southeast Asian organized crime networks were $2 to $3 trillion per year, with a typical criminal organization making $50 billion per year.[23]

Defensive criminal actions

Scam compounds are able to continue operating even though their locations are known, by bribing local law enforcement and politicians. As of 2024, organizations had allegedly harassed at least one researcher, using deep fakes to impersonate his father over phone and video chats, after stealing his phone number.[24]

Destinations

Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar in Southeast Asia are known fraud factory destinations. These countries are particularly vulnerable due to their strategic location next to China and weak law enforcement.[25] Below are known cyber scam hotspots:

International reactions

In November 2023, China issued arrest warrants for junta-aligned Ming Xuecheng, and three other Ming family members for their involvement in online scamming operations.[27] Ming later committed suicide. The other three were captured by Burmese authorities and handed to China.[28]

See also

General:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hunt . Luke . 2023-02-07 . As Myanmar Coup Intensifies Regional Human Trafficking, How Will China Respond? . 2023-03-16 . The Diplomat . en-US.
  2. Web site: Southern . Lindsey Kennedy and Nathan Paul . 2022-08-20 . The online scammer targeting you could be trapped in a South-East Asian fraud factory . 2023-08-19 . The Sydney Morning Herald . en.
  3. Web site: nikd . The online scammer targeting you could be trapped in a South-East Asian fraud factory . 2023-08-19 . Rock-Solid IT Services since 2003 . en-AU.
  4. Web site: Farivar . Cyrus . How One Man Lost $1 Million To A Crypto 'Super Scam' Called Pig Butchering . 2023-08-19 . Forbes . en.
  5. News: 2022-11-26 . The Kenyans lured to become unwitting 'love' fraudsters . en-GB . BBC News . 2022-11-26.
  6. Web site: Nagaraj . Anuradha . Wongsamuth . Nanchanok . 2022-11-14 . Cyber criminals hold Asian tech workers captive in scam factories . 2022-11-26 . The Japan Times . en-US.
  7. Web site: . 16 Nov 2022 . 16 November 2022 Tweet . 2022-11-26 . Twitter . en . Already one young Kenyan has died as a result of a botched operation by quack doctors operating in the Chinese run factories in Myanmar.
  8. Web site: Hunt . Luke . 2023-02-07 . Focus on Human Trafficking Shifts From Cambodia to Myanmar . 2023-03-16 . The Diplomat . en-US.
  9. Web site: ANI . 2022-11-24 . Over 200 Indian victims of job rackets rescued from Myanmar: MEA . 2023-03-16 . ThePrint . en-US.
  10. Web site: 8 Filipino trafficking victims in Myanmar rescued – DFA . https://web.archive.org/web/20230314045909/https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2023/2/13/8-Filipino-trafficking-victims-in-Myanmar-rescued.html . dead . March 14, 2023 . 2023-03-16 . cnn . en.
  11. Web site: 3 Taiwanese back from Myanmar human trafficking hotspot arrested - Focus Taiwan . 2023-03-16 . Focus Taiwan - CNA English News . en-US.
  12. News: 2019-07-22 . Rescued human trafficking victims in Thailand nears record high . en . Reuters . 2023-03-16.
  13. Web site: 2023 . ONLINE SCAM OPERATIONS AND TRAFFICKING INTO FORCED CRIMINALITY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A HUMAN RIGHTS RESPONSE . Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  14. Web site: 29 August 2023 . 'Hundreds of thousands' trafficked into SE Asia scam centres - UN . 30 June 2024 . Reuters.
  15. News: Ratcliffe . Rebecca . 2022-10-09 . Sold to gangs, forced to run online scams: inside Cambodia’s cybercrime crisis . 2024-06-30 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  16. Web site: Agence France-Presse . 30 November 2023 . Trafficking victims in Myanmar forced to sell organs – charity . The Manila Times.
  17. News: Butler. Gavin. Anti-regime forces promise freedom for trafficking victims as they move closer to taking Laukkai. 27 June 2024. Myanmar Now. Myanmar Now Ltd.. 15 November 2023.
  18. News: Gan. Nectar. How online scam warlords have made China start to lose patience with Myanmar's junta. 27 June 2024. CNN. 19 December 2023.
  19. https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/war-against-the-junta/myanmar-regime-raises-the-white-flag-in-kokang-zone-on-china-border-in-shan-state.html Myanmar Regime Raises the White Flag in Kokang Zone on China Border in Shan State
  20. News: The Irrawaddy. Myanmar Junta Hiding Cyber Scam Bosses: Brotherhood Alliance. 26 June 2024. The Irrawaddy. Irrawaddy Publishing Group. 29 January 2024.
  21. News: Fishbein. Emily. Nu Nu Lusan. Under siege in Myanmar's cyber-scam capital. 5 August 2024. Al Jazeera. 29 July 2024. According to Tower of the USIP, Operation 1027 was 'extremely successful' in eradicating scam syndicates from the Kokang territory and resulted in more than 40,000 people returning to China..
  22. Web site: The Irrawaddy. Ex-general attempts suicide while on death row for online scams role. . Meta Platforms, Inc.. 5 August 2024. 5 August 2024.
  23. https://www.todayonline.com/world/southeast-asia-human-trafficking-now-global-crisis-interpol-says-2392366 Southeast Asia human trafficking now a global crisis, Interpol says
  24. Web site: 'Pig-butchering': The online scam that's raked in $75 billion and counting . April 3, 2024 . Daniel Ackerman . Meghna Chakrabarti . Tim Skoog.
  25. News: Ratcliffe . Rebecca . 2022-10-09 . Sold to gangs, forced to run online scams: inside Cambodia's cybercrime crisis . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-03-16 . 0261-3077.
  26. Web site: 2022-08-02 . Inside Southeast Asia's Casino Scam Archipelago . 2023-03-16 . The Diplomat . en-US.
  27. Web site: Chinese Authorities Issue Arrest Warrants for Criminal Kingpins in Myanmar’s Kokang Region . 2023-11-13 . 2023-11-13 . The Diplomat . en-US.
  28. News: China says ringleader in Myanmar telecom fraud committed suicide . Reuters . 17 November 2023.