The truth of the telegram fraud in northern Myanmar is darker than "All or Nothing"
Author | Zhan Shibo
Edit | Yan Fei
Title map | @花总丢了金箍棒
This year, Myanmar has become a hot search regular.
Some time ago, public opinion focused mainly on the bizarre encounters of victims and the thrilling methods of fraud gangs. But now, there are more and more skeptical voices, and some interviewees told the media that Myanmar has been demonized.
Doubts are coming from all directions: why did some people who claimed to have been tricked into going to northern Myanmar escape and then returned to Myanmar? Is it credible to say that you woke up to Myanmar after being stunned? How true and false are the rumors of the "Kawaist"? Why has Myanmar become a hotspot for wire fraud?
Lashio Central Market, Myanmar. (Photo/@花总丢了金箍棒)
We then reached out to the families of some of the children trapped in Myanmar. Among them, some people suffer from severe mental illness because their children have lost contact; Although some people can determine the coordinates of the child, they are told that they need to pay a huge ransom before the other party is willing to release the person; Some parents scraped together to pay the ransom, the bosses of the wire fraud companies refused to release them, and some children were even sold twice.
Of course, there are also some families who are "lucky" enough to have children who return home safely.
A former telegram member told us the story of his escape from death in northern Myanmar: he was lured to Myanmar with a "high-paying job" with a "monthly income of more than 10,000 yuan" and began training the day after his arrival. The scam had 5 pages, and he was fined many times. They only do "pig-killing plates", playing retired military officers on Xiaohongshu, Momo and Douyin, and luring women into partnering with them to "do business".
They must strictly abide by the company's 4 rules: (1) dare to take pictures and bury them alive; (2) When the company's money arrives in your account, it is the closest step to your death (someone tried to steal the stolen money, and the end was very bad); (3) Do not gamble or take drugs; (4) Can't fight, lose Guan Xiaoheiwu, and win the game with a fine of 200,000 yuan.
In the first three months, he only opened two orders and defrauded less than 30,000 yuan. In the fourth month, he couldn't do it anymore, so he used QQ to contact his aunt. His family raised 200,000 yuan, allowing him to return to China smoothly. He had forgotten the first words he said when he was reunited with his parents, and only remembered the 200,000 yuan exchanged for Thai baht, which was too much to fit in even two sacks.
This is a typical encounter for a Chinese who was deceived into coming to Myanmar. At the same time, fragments from social media suggest that things are not as simple as they seem.
After some children were rescued, they were reluctant to leave Myanmar; A blogger who returned from Myanmar made a mistake in the live broadcast, admitting that he was not forced to go to northern Myanmar; Others have suggested that if you want to smuggle from China to Myanmar, you generally need to spend a lot of money to find skilled hands to lead the way. Is it somewhat unreasonable for the boss of the wire fraud company to spend more than 100,000 yuan on a completely uninformed person?
What is the truth? We interviewed Mr. Hua, a blogger who has traveled to the telegram base in northern Myanmar several times and has also had in-depth exchanges with many "black bosses". His observations and observations may help us have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the telefraud industry in northern Myanmar.
The following is the oral account of Hua Zong.
Wire fraud companies, volumes larger than you think
International journalists interviewing UN officials at the Parliament Building in Naypyidaw, 2016.
In February 2015, armed conflict broke out in Kokang, northern Myanmar. At that time, the Burmese National Democratic Alliance led by Peng Ka Sheng wanted to retake the Lao Cai area. On March 23, I flew to Lincang and chartered a bus to Zhenkang County on the border, hoping to interview the Confederates. I waited for six days in a hotel opposite the South Umbrella Gate before I was allowed to go to the Confederate camp to interview the commander of the 311th Brigade and front-line soldiers. It became an unforgettable experience of my life.
In the spring of 2016, when Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD won the election, I applied as a social media blogger to interview the president, and received permission from the Federal Ministry of Propaganda to travel to Naypyidaw to witness the regime change. Earlier, I also went to Bangkang, the capital of Wa State, to look for clues about the activities of "E Renting Bao" in the local area. These experiences became a special bond between me and Myanmar.
I have been following Myanmar all these years. Due to various factors, the topic of cash network (wire fraud) has been lacking in media depth. So I wondered if I could visit in person.
I interviewed practitioners in Yangon, Shan and Kayin States and met two bosses. I was able to learn some insider stories about the wire fraud industry.
How subverted my stereotypes are these interviews? For example, IBM has a visual intelligence analysis software called i2 that police might use to analyze telecom fraud cases. One of the bosses told me that his men were learning how to use it.
Later, I learned that he had a highly educated team that called himself a "doctoral class." They buy first-hand information of ultra-high-net-worth clients from special channels, screen the target audience, and then tailor the traps.
In the first two years, NFT was very popular, and this "doctoral class" made a lot of money by relying on the popular "earth dog project". The biggest difference between them and people in the cryptocurrency circle is that they may not believe in the blockchain, they know that they are cheating from the beginning, and they are all real rich people.
Water Gully Valley.
In this team, there are also people who run away because of business failure, they have been bosses, and the words and scripts designed are more realistic, which makes it more difficult for ordinary people to distinguish.
They specialize in "fine chat" (spiritual chat), which is a chat method with a nature of PUA. "Fine Chat" will be used in various investment and betting scams, and eventually point to the "pig killing plate".
Many of the teachers who developed the art of talking have been trained in MLM or insurance. In order to "improve", they may read more books than me every year, after all, the speech group cannot eat all over the world. The difficulty of interviewing them is the highest, because they are all human spirits, and the words are either hooks or bulletproof steel plates.
(Photo/@花总丢了金箍棒)
Without enough material (customer information), these scams are also difficult to play. Customer information has become the most valuable thing in this industry. Cash.com employees usually go to various social platforms to fish and find and screen fraud targets. There are also companies that buy from hackers and data traffickers, which is a very large market.
Personal information leaked from various sources continues to flow into the black market. Last year, 750,000 pieces of population information were sold for a asking price of ten bitcoins. For example, the high-net-worth customer information leaked in those financial institutions, as well as the customer information compiled by the relationship manager, are also very valuable for fraud groups.
In the spring of 2023, Hua Zong arrived at Lashio Airport. (Photo/@花总丢了金箍棒)
Some high-end scams are specially customized for the rich, and the accomplices of the fraud syndicate in China will even observe each other's daily lives up close. The entire fraud process may last a long time, and the target is generally more than 10 million.
You think those businessmen are savvy, but everyone has weaknesses, and there is always a scam waiting for him. The scams designed for the so-called big bosses are also designed by knowledgeable people, they understand real investment, but also understand foreign trade and real estate, and they are completely insiders when they talk, which is a bureau that cannot be prevented by countless anti-fraud apps.
As for the harassing phone calls, scam text messages, and naked chat invitations received by ordinary people, they are only the long-tail effect of the entire fraud ecological chain.
Wire fraud, a pawn in the gray production game
Throughout the history of Myanmar's fraud problem, wire fraud is only one link in the black ash production in northern Myanmar, and if it is only in this link, you can't see the full picture.
For example, its front-end has a social worker database and a black market of information that steals and sells all kinds of privacy, as well as a "line" that specializes in organizing the smuggling of people; At the back end, there is a full-time money laundering "water room".
Money laundering is one of the biggest costs for wire fraud companies. Most of the water houses are outsourced, and a few are owned. The task of the water house is to quickly transfer and withdraw large amounts of funds into zero.
They will get a lot of bank cards from the hands of "kanon" (people who rent or sell bank cards), cheat the money, quickly divert it to secondary and tertiary accounts, and then withdraw cash, a process called "running cards". They would also arrange for people to buy gold jewelry, Maotai, high-end mobile phones, Rolex, etc., and then the "driver" would sell the stolen goods.
Compared with "running cards", the proportion of "running codes" (WeChat and Alipay's collection codes) is now higher. "Running code" will place orders through a special running score platform. Many young students are greedy for small profits, helping others swipe orders and recharge money on these illegal platforms, and as a result, they have become accomplices in money laundering. Many platforms are even scams themselves, directly cutting these little leeks.
In 2015, Hua General interviewed the Confederates. (Photo/@花总丢了金箍棒)
There are not as many wire fraud companies in Myanmar as claimed on the Internet, and even at their peak, there were fewer than 200,000 "employees" in northern Myanmar.
Engaging in black production in Myanmar is actually not easy. Now the wire fraud has been very involved, just like Pan Zong, he also discussed with me the possibility of combining AI technology and business. Most companies want to hire experienced people. There will also be some new projects popping up, and these new companies will use all kinds of tricks to pull people's heads if they can't recruit people.
This industry has developed for a long time, it can be said that "a hundred flowers bloom", some companies have a strong business comprehensive, but there are also only a single business or supporting services (such as running points). Some teams are indeed superior in size, model, management, efficiency, and even team building. Worse companies may even have to pay for resources (QQ accounts and WeChat IDs used for fraud) by employees themselves.
(Photo/"All or Nothing")
The general manager I talked to is now thinking about how to do a good job in employee benefits and corporate culture, so that everyone can scam in this place with peace of mind. He has always felt that he is an entrepreneur, just in a special industry. Of course, no matter how they package and flaunt, they are essentially doing things that hurt nature.
They have always paid close attention to public opinion on the Internet, but what they really care about is not the image, but the external risk changes caused by public opinion. Like Pan Zong, his office has a Rimowa suitcase containing his parents' ashes smuggled out of China. As a "filial son", he is ready to run away with his parents at any time.
"Most people don't think about getting off the thief's boat when they get on it"
Most of the people I see who do this are voluntary, and they want to get sideways. In order not to be intercepted by border control and persuaded to return, they often check out on the basis of third-country tourism, and some of them will also smuggle from the sea. In order to make some crooked money, they are also considered to have gone forward.
Some people find that the money is not easy to earn after joining the company, and may want to change companies and parks. But the harsh reality is that most people don't think about getting off the thief's boat when they get on it. Have you really been tricked and then tried to escape? There may be, but most of them don't earn money and can't get out, so they want to escape.
The owner (landlord) of the park sometimes said to the settled pan, don't push too hard, and keep the water flowing for a long time. However, for the vast majority of owners, the cash network business has passed the peak of development, and to grab huge profits, it is inseparable from the pressure of the bottom employees. Many companies work from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
(Photo/"All or Nothing")
Some companies have a lot of tricks when hiring, such as rebates, monthly salary increases, and compensation, and the actual treatment is often not good. But I regretted it after joining the company, it was already late. The larger park has everything, work and life are one-stop; Some small parks are actually a building, and if the accommodation is not good, you have to lay the floor. Therefore, the "dog pushers" (salesmen in the pig-killing plate) will also set up groups to remind each other which companies and parks have a "bad reputation" and try to go around.
Those who have paid compensation can generally only move in the park. Compensation is mainly expenses paid by the company in advance, including but not limited to airfare, board and accommodation, and visas. If you are smuggled, the payout may be high. During the epidemic, the cost of "routing" at the Yunnan border was once as high as more than 100,000 yuan, and some people even specially defrauded the company of travel expenses.
Even now, the cost of transporting people from Kunming to Xishuangbanna and then sending them abroad is not low. At present, the border of Yunnan is very strictly controlled, and the risk of "line routing" being intercepted and seized is very high.
If you carry tens of thousands of yuan in compensation and do not do a million yuan in performance, you will definitely not be able to go. Some companies will offer six months or even a few months of deductible conditions to attract people. Of course, there are also many companies that traffic in people.
At a time when the evil of wire fraud is hotly discussed, there are still netizens who publish "job search" information about northern Myanmar on a certain software.
Now it used to be mostly men. Even in northern Myanmar, which is beyond the control of the Myanmar federal government, there is a local judicial system, and if a victim comes out to expose it, the local armed forces will come under pressure.
Public opinion in China has an impact on the local government, because they need China's electricity, supplies, vaccines, border trade to feed the people, and China mediates relations with the central government of Myanmar.
There must be enslavement and beatings within the black industry. The more you are at the bottom or end of the industrial chain, the less you treat employees as people. However, black production capacity has existed for thousands of years, not by violence, but by the profiteering and secret and meticulous operation of ingenuity. This is the same as the Japanese community, and violence is more often a deterrent.
I've also heard a lot of bloody stories. In order to squeeze the performance of employees, the "general managers" and supervisors will punish those "latecomers". Some park guards really shoot at fleeing people. There are often Chinese abnormal deaths in Cambodia, which should also be related to wire fraud.
Civil strife in Myanmar is a source of black production
In the face of the wire fraud industry, the emotions of the local people in Myanmar are actually very mixed. Gambling and fraud have indeed created local GDP and driven infrastructure construction to a certain extent. However, most of the "development dividends" are actually divided by minority forces or families.
These people who engage in electricity fraud also indirectly push up local prices. In Bangkang (Myanmar's electricity fraud hardest hit area) to order takeaway, a pork foot rice also costs 30 yuan, a bowl of Liuzhou screw powder 25 yuan, not cheaper than Shenzhen and Shanghai.
Many young Chinese in Myanmar (Chinese in Myanmar) choose to go to work in the park. The translator I hired during my interview in Naypyidaw in 2016 is now working in Mywati. After all, wages elsewhere in Myanmar are too low, only seven or eight hundred to one thousand. And now the Myanmar currency is depreciating very much, the official exchange rate and the black market price difference is 40%, but there is a chance to earn yuan and US dollars in the park.
The price of local takeaway in Boncon.
From this point of view, the locals hate and love electric fraud, and even love more than hate. A few days ago in Myowadi, Commander Suchi invited dozens of Burmese monks to hold a blessing ceremony for Sheh Zhijiang (the head of the KK campus arrested earlier in Thailand), which thousands of villagers in Shuigou Valley religiously attended. The demons in our eyes turned out to be heroes in their hearts.
Although they insist that they are only at work, their values will inevitably be affected after a long period of contact with black births. I met an elementary school teacher in Lashio Wubao, who was quite simple when he first went to work in Mengneng, and planned to earn some money and come back to get married. As a result, less than a year later, "skating" (drug use) has already been learned.
On the other hand, wire fraud and human trafficking have greatly affected Myanmar's international image. The locals, including Myanmar China, are very angry, in their opinion, it is clear that some Chinese deceive Chinese, why should they carry the pot in Myanmar? This sentiment is quite common.
However, according to some cases solved by the Kokang Special Office and the Wa State Judicial Commission, many local people have also been involved in kidnapping and extortion Chinese. Poisonous weeds will spread and eventually destroy the ecology.
The fees charged by the smuggling gang from Kunming to Jinghong are more than 10,000, not including the cost of smuggling out of the country. (Picture/Screenshot from Telegram App group chat)
Ordinary people entering northern Myanmar legally can only go through a few ports in Yunnan, and they need to have a border pass. If you enter the country with a passport visa, you are currently not allowed to travel to northern Myanmar. After May this year, foreigners were not allowed to enter even Lashio.
Normal people are generally safe if they only move around in Yangon, Mandalay or Naypyidaw or Bagan, keeping their distance from strangers. But at present, the civil strife in Myanmar has not subsided, there is a curfew in many places, and international sanctions have also had a great impact on Myanmar's domestic economy and living standards.
This year, the discussion of overseas wire fraud has become more and more intense. On the one hand, we held several high-level meetings with Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos to discuss how to jointly combat wire fraud, and the network became tighter and tighter. On the other hand, domestic public opinion is overwhelming, and the "general managers" feel unprecedented pressure and are also considering transformation or moving places.
They used to run from the Philippines to Westport in Cambodia, and from Westport to Laos and Myanmar. In addition to finding a local umbrella, the important reason is low operating costs, complete services and living facilities, and almost no time difference with China. Some parks are in Dubai, and the difference between China and China is four hours, so you have to follow Chinese time.
There are already many companies in the Middle East parks such as Dragon City, DIP, and Gemini Phoenix. If Myanmar is not well treated, these people will either continue to wander around Southeast Asia or will have to go to Dubai.
Black production is by no means just today. As the other side of human society, it has existed and developed together with mainstream civilization for thousands of years. The complexity of "fishing for the wrong way" will only be higher than the "right path" that everyone knows.
There is a strict ecosystem and operating logic behind it, and violence and terror are very superficial things. Electric fraud can take root and germinate in a place, it must be that the ecology there needs this poisonous weed, or the black production and the local area have formed a mutually nourishing and even interdependent relationship.
The KK Park on Google Earth is impressively written with terrifying landmarks such as incineration areas, water prisons, concentration camps, and dog push terminals. (Photo/Google Earth)
Take the most notorious KK park, located on the Myanmar border, just across the river from Mae So, Thailand, and protected by Karen border guards. The Karen Border Guards, nominally led by the Myanmar National Defence Force, are in fact a semi-independent ethnic local armed force. If it wants to survive and develop in the chaos of the civil war, it needs a lot of military support.
Wire fraud is precisely a business that "has less risk than drug trafficking and higher profit than drug trafficking", and Su Qidu, commander of the border guards, is a shareholder of many parks such as KK. Like the Shuigou Valley where the headquarters of the border guards are located, if you go there, you will find that the local development is similar to that of a domestic town, Chinese signboards are everywhere, and there are even vivo mobile phone stores, which are more popular than Miawadi City.
Water Gully Valley.
Without the poisonous weed of electricity fraud, many forces in Myanmar would have been unable to survive the epidemic and ran out of food. If you want to ban black industry, can the local people be willing? Pulling the power cut, the network and even the card can be cracked down on to a certain extent, but to completely solve this problem, it is necessary to carry out in-depth "ecological transformation" in those areas.
It is easy to persuade those in power not to drink and quench their thirst, but how to change the cage for birds, I am afraid that no one can come up with a plan in the short term. Just like Mengla, Kokang and Wa State, the abandonment of the cultivation of big smoke (poppy) for alternative cultivation was actually a very arduous and huge project.
It is easy to destroy a KK park, but as long as the ecology does not change, thousands of parks will pop up. At the end of June 2021, the Central Committee of the United Wa State Party also issued a notice calling for the whole state to clean up and rectify and gradually withdraw from the wire fraud business. Everyone knows exactly how it actually goes.
To be pessimistic, if the civil strife in Myanmar does not subside, the black industry and its umbrella will not give up on the fire, and the efforts of all parties to cooperate in fighting crime will be half fruitful.
What I see now, will eventually be made into a new film, the name I haven't thought about yet, what step can I go to in the end, what can be presented, I don't have a bottom in my heart. The black production I saw was like the eye of a typhoon, the central area of the typhoon may be light and windy, but it hides the bottomless abyss.
Proofreader: Lai Xiaoni
Operation: Ono
Typesetting: Xiong Ziyu