Introduction

Nowadays, when it comes to telecommunications fraud, it is already a familiar matter for many Chinese people. The fraud groups in Northern Myanmar are notorious for their evil and cruelty.

However, there is a small misunderstanding in this perception, that is, the telecom fraud groups in Northern Myanmar are not the pioneers in this field, nor are they the "promoters".

In fact, telecom fraud originated from Taiwanese gangs, and these Taiwanese gangs are no less cruel or criminal than those in Northern Myanmar...

They not only deceive people from the mainland but even their own Taiwanese compatriots, or rather, they started by deceiving Taiwanese themselves...

1. The Origin of Taiwanese Fraud Groups

In fact, the development of Taiwanese fraud groups was not "instant success". Before the era of Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese gangs did not even know what "telecom fraud" was; their fraud schemes were merely "limited" to offline tactics.

The rise of Taiwanese fraud can be traced back to Lee Teng-hui.

We all know that Lee Teng-hui was the successor of Chiang Ching-kuo and the initiator of "Taiwanese independence". But Chiang Ching-kuo was definitely not a "Taiwanese independence" advocate, and Lee Teng-hui inherited Chiang's government, most of whose officials and military leaders were also averse to Taiwanese independence.

Therefore, Lee Teng-hui, in order to consolidate power and promote his own "Taiwanese independence", dismissed or marginalized a large number of military leaders and government officials. The Taiwanese intelligence agencies were no exception.

Although we are quite clear about the level of the Taiwanese intelligence agencies from the time of the Republic of China, such as "Military Intelligence" and "Central Intelligence", they were still official intelligence agencies at the end of the day.

Their personnel, however trained, were still officially trained intelligence personnel.

These people, although perhaps not comparable to intelligence personnel from major world powers, were still a cut above local criminals in Taiwan. The Taiwanese intelligence agencies, from the time of the Republic of China, had already been entangled with criminals and various gangs, which had almost become a tradition.

When these intelligence personnel were laid off due to Lee Teng-hui's "purge", their first choice was to join these gangs they once looked down upon.

Just like the Bulgarian intelligence chief Pavlov, who became a Balkan gang leader after the changes in Eastern Europe, a large number of Taiwanese intelligence personnel joining local gangs also brought a lot of "advanced technology" to the gangs.

At the same time, the rise of mobile communications in the late 1990s and early 21st century also brought new "opportunities" to Taiwanese gangs, namely telecom fraud.

"Lottery scams", "police scams", and "old friend scams", which are well-known today, all emerged during that period.

When they first appeared, the Taiwanese public was virtually defenseless. The local gangs transformed into fraud groups and quickly "grew large and strong", and more and more "industry insiders" began to switch to telecom fraud.

After all, street fighting could lead to death or arrest, but telecom fraud did not carry these risks. However, Taiwan's "market" was only so large, and there were increasingly more people sharing the pie, leading to a shortage of "meat".

Also, because there were so many fraud groups in Taiwan, the local people, after being deceived a few times, came to understand what was happening. Therefore, the Taiwanese public's resistance to telecom fraud became very high.

At that time, a newly wealthy and seemingly "limitless potential new market" began to catch the eye of Taiwanese fraud groups. Taiwanese fraud groups then started a more "civilized" 2.0 era.

2. The Taiwanese Fraud 2.0 Era

Although Taiwanese media continuously hyped up rumors such as "mainlanders can't afford tea eggs", Taiwanese fraud groups were the first to disbelieve these claims. These people adhered to the principle of "practice makes perfect" and conducted on-the-ground research in the mainland, confirming the unlimited potential of the "market".

However, the mainland government had already experienced scams by then. As early as the 1980s, a large number of "Hong Kong businessmen" drove luxury cars and spoke fluent or awkward Cantonese to swindle money in the mainland. But for Taiwanese fraud groups, these "Hong Kong counterparts" were actually quite primitive, because their scam model was basically "hit and run", lacking "sustainable development" capabilities.

At that time, local governments at all levels paid great attention to Hong Kong and Taiwanese businessmen who came to invest, especially those who could actually bring money, and they were eager to support them. Taiwanese fraud groups, having completed "primitive capital accumulation" in Taiwan, actually had quite a bit of money.

The difference between Taiwanese fraud groups and "Hong Kong scam schemes" was that they would actually invest in building so-called "technology parks" in the mainland. Back then, our mainland officials had never seen such schemes and naturally did not suspect any fraud, leading to the proliferation of so-called "technology parks" in the south.

Because these "technology parks" were in the mainland, they definitely could not operate like today's Northern Myanmar, illegally detaining people and imposing physical punishments. Also, many people who worked there at the time did not think they were deceiving others, because the concept simply did not exist.

Everyone who has been to Taiwan will say that fundamentally, Taiwanese people are all the same. This logic also applies to the fraud groups, their methods of deception did not even need to be "localized"; they just continued playing the old tricks.

But as time went on, the adverse effects of telecom fraud became increasingly apparent. Our national public security organs first noticed this situation and started a special rectification in 2009, while also signing a judicial assistance agreement with the Taiwanese authorities to jointly combat the increasingly rampant telecom fraud.

On the other hand, more and more mainland "smart people" began to notice this business and joined the "market competition", leading to further deterioration of telecom fraud crimes in our country. After 2010, our country launched a series of measures to combat telecom fraud, and Taiwanese fraud groups could no longer survive in the mainland.

At this time, the fraud groups finally evolved to the well-known "3.0 model", also known as the "Northern Myanmar model".

3. Heading to Southeast Asia in the 3.0 Era

Taiwanese fraud groups could no longer survive in Taiwan, the mainland, Hong Kong, or Macau. Hong Kong was too expensive and the police too powerful; going to Macau was simply seeking death. Since they could no longer survive in these four places, Taiwanese fraud groups had to start looking outside, towards Southeast Asia.

It was from this time that places like Northern Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia began to be filled with "down-to-sea" fraud groups. These regions all shared a common feature: there were no extradition treaties with Taiwan, local government control was weak, warlords ruled, or the local governments were too focused on economic development.

One place that Taiwanese fraud groups generally liked was Sihanoukville in Cambodia, which is commonly referred to by the Chinese as "West Port".

The "West Port model" of fraud differs somewhat from the "Northern Myanmar model", as the local method of fraud mainly involves online gambling as the main form of internet fraud, supplemented by pig-butchering schemes, unlike the traditional fraud model in Northern Myanmar. This is mainly because this type of fraud model is legal in Cambodia!

At that time, the Cambodian government, in order to promote local economic development, legalized the gambling industry, attempting to turn West Port into the Las Vegas of Southeast Asia. However, reality is harsh; Cambodia is too close to Macau, and it is neither safe nor distinctive. The surrounding countries of Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, and even the Philippines are all doing the same thing, creating too much competition.

But at this time, Taiwanese fraud groups chose this place to open "online casinos". The "online casinos" in West Port even had a series of legal certifications. But the only difference between West Port's fraud groups and those in Northern Myanmar was actually just this.

In West Port's "industrial parks", a "dog pusher" still needs to work over 15 hours a day. And the lower-level members of these fraud groups are also deceived mainlanders or Taiwanese who came to the area. Back then, there was a saying in West Port: "If you have no dreams, why come to West Port?"

However, "good times don't last long". In 2019, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signed a "gambling ban", prohibiting all online and offline gambling operations. The path for Taiwanese fraud groups was blocked, and it was actually at that time that the Northern Myanmar fraud groups truly began to rise, because after all, Cambodia does not go to war, and fraud personnel do not want to go to Northern Myanmar.

But not everyone left Cambodia; the "industrial parks" in West Port were also retained, and the local government and police turned a blind eye, as this place still generated a lot of "economic value" every year. However, the model inside changed, and these Taiwanese fraud groups reverted to the gang model.

Fraud became a simple and crude way of deceiving people to come over and then demanding ransom. Men who could not pay the ransom were forced into hard labor, and women into prostitution. Traditional telecom fraud and new models such as order brushing were also carried out simultaneously, and these Taiwanese fraud groups even turned their guns back on Taiwan.

Many Taiwanese are actually very familiar with the telecom fraud industry, and they know that coming to Cambodia is to deceive mainlanders. But what they never expected was that the local Taiwanese fraud groups deceived them over to collect ransom, not to "play together".

Wanting to cut the leeks of the mainland, they did not realize that they were actually the leeks... Each person was clearly priced at 60,000 US dollars for ransom, or they had to deceive six people to come to Cambodia, otherwise they could not leave.

Many Taiwanese, having no other options, could only seek help from the Chinese embassy. Our embassy clearly stated that all Taiwanese are Chinese citizens, enjoying the same rights as mainland citizens, and if they encounter difficulties, they should seek help from the state, which will definitely send them back to Taiwan.

Today's West Port in Cambodia is no longer the "city of hope" but has become the "city of fraud" in people's hearts.

The Taiwanese fraud groups in West Port, under the dual pressures of national crackdowns and local decline, are finding it increasingly difficult to survive, and it is likely that one day in the future, Cambodia will no longer have a fertile ground for fraud.