When the scammers first went to northern Myanmar to commit crimes, they had no idea that one day in order to go back home earlier, they had to find "scalpers" to jump the line, and even "whoever paid more would go back first."
Lately, intensive announcements have been issued in many places across the country, urging those who have been illegally stranded in northern Myanmar to return to their home countries within a specified time, otherwise their citizenship will be renounced in accordance with the procedures. China's Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other places even directly issued an announcement "to renounced the list of missing persons in accordance with the law."
In the last 5 years，northern Myanmar were seen as the "The Paradise of telecommunication scams" The unprecedented "persuasion to return" operation targeted more than 100,000 Chinese people stranded in Myanmar. Most of them were engaged in telecommunications fraud and related industries, and the targets of fraud were mainly Chinese.
It was reported that in northern Myanmar, for every 500,000 yuan worth of frauds, the scammers will set off a bunch of fireworks or firecrackers to celebrate the success of the "deal". Every night, one can hear the sound of fireworks and firecrackers, sometimes even into the early morning.
Meanwhile, victims around the world were deceived into bankruptcy and depression. Because they are outside the country, the domestic police were unable to effectively enforce the law outside the country without the permission or assistance of other countries.
Xiao Ling
In March of this year, the Binjiang Criminal Investigation Brigade, Hangzhou, China, was investigating an online dating cum investment fraud case, and found out that the suspects were gathered in northern Myanmar. The police persuaded the suspects in this den to return, one of the girls, Xiaoling, then expressed her wish to return. Officer Chen immediately led the three team members to Yunnan China-Myanmar border inspection. He wanted to bring Xiaoling back. As he came back from abroad, he needed to be quarantined for 21 days. Officer Chen and the others came back first and waited for Xiaoling's quarantine to end.
Not long ago, Xiaoling, accompanied by her brother, walked into the Binjiang Criminal Investigation Brigade and accepted the police's punishment.
Xiaoling was born in 1992 in Liuzhou, Guangxi. Her elder brother is only one year older than Xiaoling, but he has two children. The elder brother said that the family had never known what his sister was doing, and even when they went to Myanmar, they didn’t know until the police called. “We also persuaded my sister to surrender and return home. Our family are farmers and we don't know much."
In the Binjiang Criminal Investigation Brigade, the reporter met Xiaoling, who was thin and small, and carefully listening to her sharing about her experience of entering Myanmar twice.
Boyfriend introduce a "high salary job"
Xiaoling left her family to start working at the age of 17. She was previously working as a a restaurant server, Internet cafe administrators, etc., and have low incomes.
On July 2019, her boyfriend then introduce her a high paying desk bound job in which she could receive up to few ten thousands per month. Xiaoling was then tempted however when she arrived in Myanmar, she know she was already out of China, her home country and arrived in a different country.
Xiaoling could clearly reemember that it was in the early morning, Company sent their car to pick her up. Together with her was 3 other people who did not talk to each other. When they came to a bridge, the driver told them to out of the car and transferred them to a older looking vehicle. The uncle driver who picked them had super dark skin. She felt a little strange, but because she was with her boyfriend, she didn't think much about it.
The China-Myanmar border has a total length of 2,186 kilometers. Most areas lack natural barriers, and some boundary markers are separated by a river or a road. Since Xiaoling had never traveled far, she didn't know the concept of the border, until later did she know that they had come here illegally.
They came to a place called Mengping, a county in northern Myanmar.
It is only a dozen kilometers away from Yunnan. Xiaoling said that there are many Chinese people in the area, who open stores and do business, and more often work in office buildings like her.
The building has security guards guarded with guns
The vehicle finally stopped in front of a 7 story high building that was guarded by security guards who carries guns. That was the very first time Xiaoling seen such formation but her boyfriend didn't seems to care like it was all normal to him. They were later being led to the 5th floor where hundreds of people who were talking and playing on their phone.
"This is going to be your workplace" said one bald man. The bald man later took them to a cubicle and started training them. The content of the training is how to communicate with others, how to grasp the victim's psychology, and how to accurately "feed" and "stock" the pigs aka victims.
After a week of training, Xiaoling took up her post.
They would spend their days calling people, adding people on social media. The goal was to add at least 8 people a day or they would be forced to do extra hours for the day.
The Company would pre-package them into rich business man son. Their tasks is to make the victims fall in love with them and get them to invest their money into the platform thenafter disappear.
Ten over thousands in a month
Xiaoling hit ten over thousands for the first month. Under the Company rules, scammers are allowed to returned home after their 3rd month however if they do not work more than 3 months, the scammers would be asked to pay penalty fee to the Company. In most cases, most people would choose to complete 3 months but there are some who continued working after 3 months.
Xiaoling understood what she was doing and she was very pleased with her income. They would eat and live in the Company, uses the Company cell phone but were not allowed to get out of the building thus the security guards.
Although the area only consists of a few streets, and it only takes an hour to walk around the city. But Xiaoling hasn't been shopping since she got there. Occasionally on holidays, she can also stroll around, but there is nothing to go around, all kinds of signages are all Chinese characters.
There were KTV and casinos around the Company and Xiaoling would sometimes patron. Most younger generation would always booked the entire KTV room and abuse drugs such as Ketamine which is popular. According to Xiaoling, the casinos is luxuriously decorated, and it is a bit out of place with all the dirt surrounding the area. The main means of transportation was motorcycles. So it was dusty in the morning and evening peaks.
According to Xiaoling, reporting to the police will not work, the police will bring you back to the Company which you will be exchanged with a beating by the Company.
Entering Burma again
After 3 months of probation, Xiaoling brought a couple of ten thousands preparing to go back to China. Her boyfriend at this time has became an ex. Upon returning to China for a couple of months, she couldnt find a proper job therefore she went back to northern Myanmar again.
April 2020, Xiaoling smuggled back to Myanmar, again however this time she went back to work in the KTV industry. The KTV industry were complicated, there is a mixture of gambling, drugs and fighting but that did not affect her at all. She was determined to make money.
The Binjiang police notified Xiaoling's family, and her brother only then they knew what she was doing these years.
Xiaoling brother persuade his sister to surrender
Going back home haven't been easy these days, there were literally hundreds of people lining up daily to return home comparing to the past. In view of the pandemic and the notice on the internet being put up, Xiaoling then contacted the public security department to go home.
Currently, Xiaoling has been detained and the case is under further investigation.
According to statistics from Binjiang police, in the cases they handle, there are still more than ten suspects of telecommunications network fraud still stranded in northern Myanmar and other places.
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