Starting from February 15th, several chartered flights carrying individuals involved in fraud flew from Thailand to China. In just one week, Kunming Airport received over 600 handcuffed fraud suspects, and the repatriation continues.
Some might wonder, most of the people in Myawaddy were kidnapped, how did they become "fraud suspects"?
In fact, this is a well-known fact that has been discussed for a long time. Over 95% of the people in these zones were lured there by "high salaries". These individuals might have simply wanted to earn money, while many others were already restless at home, involved in gambling or loan sharking, and burdened with debts, hoping to try their luck there. Some who went there ended up not making any deals and wanted to return, which complicated matters.
The approach to handling such situations varies across different zones. Some might demand money from the families of the individuals, treating it as "accommodation fees", meaning if your child comes here, eats and drinks, they can't leave without settling the bill. The amount is negotiable. Typically, they might start by asking for 500,000 yuan, and if not paid, physical coercion like electric shocks might follow. If you can prove that your family really can't afford that much, the price can be negotiated.
At this point, there's a fascinating profession, such as the famous "Long Ge", who was the behind-the-scenes advisor for the anti-fraud film "All In". He has connections there and can mediate. For instance, Long Ge might clarify to the zone that this guy is very poor, can only pay fifty thousand at most. Once the zone sees that's the limit, fifty thousand is better than nothing, and the matter is settled. Long Ge then arranges transportation to bring the person back.
I've roughly understood their workflow. They first pay a fee to the Karen armed forces as a "mediation license". After paying this fee, they can enter and exit the zones controlled by the Karen armed forces without much trouble. These intermediaries, by showing dilapidated family homes or other evidence, convince the zone that the family really can't pay, and the zone, realizing they can't squeeze more out of them, gives up and settles for whatever can be paid.
Previously, they have already rescued thousands of people.
However, once someone in the zone "makes a deal", meaning they successfully deceive someone, it's confirmed as illegal and criminal. Upon return, they will be arrested, detained, and sentenced as necessary. This is why those rescued from there are generally handcuffed. They are both perpetrators of telecom fraud and victims of the crime chain in Southeast Asia.
Here's a question, some might ask, if you can't get the money, aren't you risking organ harvesting?
Such things definitely exist, but they're not that common. Organ transplantation is a technical job, and not many hospitals in China can handle this business, let alone in Myanmar with its medical conditions.
Returning to the main topic, the incident involving Wang Xing caused a huge uproar domestically after it happened.
As a major global player, China's actions on the Myanmar issue are easily subject to accusations from the West of "geopolitical expansion". If China were to press Myanmar aggressively, it could be interpreted as "interfering in another country's internal affairs", which China indeed avoids. China then started coordinating with Thailand.
Here's another question, why not approach Myanmar, but Thailand instead?
Because the control over the Myawaddy area is not by the Myanmar government, but by the well-known "Karen armed forces", which are somewhat similar to the warlords in remote areas during China's Republic era. Those warlords acted as local emperors, growing opium and being self-sufficient, nominally loyal to the central government, but the central government couldn't reach them.
It's the same with Myanmar. On one hand, the central government of Myanmar can't reach these warlords, and on the other hand, it doesn't want to turn against them, as these armies are nominally loyal to the center. If they were to get upset, it would cost money to suppress them later. What the Myanmar government lacks most now is money.
So how do these warlords sustain themselves?
The Karen armed forces mainly collect protection fees from the fraud zones, along with drug processing and even investing in fraud zones, similar to investing in public companies.
There are also various other warlords with diverse ways of making money, including selling jade, running gambling operations, smuggling Red Bull, and even some warlords who have mastered core technologies, engaging in cryptocurrency to launder money and take cuts.
It's worth mentioning that many industries in Myanmar now require high technical standards, needing highly professional programmers and graphic designers. How do these professionals get there? The content in the movie "All In" almost all has real-life prototypes. A common plot in the movie is to lure programmers abroad with high salaries to work in Singapore or Dubai, then they end up in the zones via Myanmar. Once in the zone, they can't escape, and soon realizing they can indeed make money, they settle down to earn.
Let's continue with the main topic. Thailand has significant influence in the Myawaddy area, as almost all the water, electricity, and oil there are supplied by Thailand, and the Thai upper echelons have intricate relationships with the Myanmar zones.
Moreover, Thailand is different from us; it doesn't carry the "big country burden". There have been instances where Myanmar provoked Thailand, and Thai military police directly crossed the border to arrest people. If we did that, it would definitely be explosive news internationally.
Thai military personnel often drive there, and they know the ins and outs of the Karen armed forces. If a conflict were to erupt, with Thailand's understanding of the Karen armed forces, they could carry out decapitation operations against those warlords in minutes.
Thus, after the Thai Prime Minister visited China before the New Year, he went back and started handling this matter.
It's probably known that Thailand is a peculiar country; their government and military operate independently. This time, the pressure on Myawaddy clearly shows a consensus between the Thai government and military, feeling the pressure from the East.
So, Thailand first cut off the electricity to the zone, then started negotiations.
Logically, just cutting off electricity wouldn't impact Myawaddy that much. But the Karen armed forces probably understood through their connections with the Thai upper echelons that this situation was serious, and they panicked, knowing that resisting would lead to no good outcomes, so they decisively decided to cooperate.
They kneeled too quickly, and all parties were caught off guard.
Basically, those involved in fraud who wanted to return to their country were allowed to go, while quietly moving Myawaddy's resources and those fraudsters who didn't want to leave to other locations.
However, in the past few days, it escalated, with Thailand demanding the Karen armed forces hand over criminals. Logically, this demand is a bit excessive, but the Myanmar warlords complied anyway, clearly understanding who was demanding the handover.
The leader of the Karen armed forces is named Su Chi Du, who is also wanted, indicating that Thailand is serious about this matter.
A bit more about Su Chi Du, he is the actual controller and protector behind Myawaddy. He is a military man with very wild ideas and very progressive thoughts, engaging in all the trendy activities over the years.
Apart from the well-known support for fraud zones, he also dabbles in cryptocurrencies, online casinos, artifact trading, NFT transactions, and selling drugs like fentanyl on Western social media. Basically, whatever is trendy, he's involved in.
He's also interested in AI, having developed an "AI Dog Push" system a few years ago. Not sure what "Dog Push" is? It's those online solicitors who lure people to participate in online gambling. Now, these dog pushers are also AI, with initial screening by AI followed by manual screening.
Moreover, Su Chi Du has purchased villas in Thailand, Dubai, and other places to prevent these countries from pursuing him. He also bought properties in small islands in South America and Greenland, autonomous territories overseas, ready to flee at any moment. The funniest part is, people from Su Chi Du's hometown have a good impression of him, saying he built schools for his hometown, of course, funded by fraud.
It's outrageous that, on one hand, Su Chi Du is engaging in activities harmful to China, but on the other hand, he tries not to provoke China. For example, he strictly forbids his subordinates from defrauding military dependents and state-owned enterprise employees in China. If his subordinates cause big trouble, he will decisively hand them over. For instance, he recently handed over six middle-ranking officers, expressing deep regret that these people were too bad, tarnishing his reputation, and doing bad things behind his back. He just wanted to be a simple zone landlord, not expecting these people to cause such big trouble.
So, it's highly likely that the Myawaddy issue will be resolved soon, probably by the middle of this year, that place will be basically empty. In the future, this might serve as a template for similar situations. Once targeted by our country, the situation will quickly disperse.
However, it's important to note that the hardest rule in the world is, "If there's a buyer, there will be a seller." Fraud services are essentially a commodity. As long as there are people wanting to make quick money, there will be others ready to exploit them.
But the good news is, it's very easy to avoid such frauds.
The International Anti-Fraud Alliance has data showing that out of every 1000 fraud attempts, 2.7 people are defrauded (a success rate increase of 18% compared to 2023), with global daily fraud earnings still reaching 320 million USD. It shows they use a "low success rate-high base" model, with initial contact lasting only 30 seconds. That is, if you express disinterest in their various "projects" within these 30 seconds, you'll avoid them.
Actually, various signs also indicate that fraud groups are moving from Myanmar to Cambodia, Dubai, and even South America, where the vast and sparsely populated areas might be more suitable for telecom fraud than the jungles of Myanmar. In the long run, it seems that fraud groups moving out of Asia and going global is a major trend.
This also reminds me of a statement by Brzezinski. He believed that the United States would eventually share world management with China, although China is not very interested in meddling in other countries' affairs. However, it hopes that other countries, especially Asian countries, would consult Beijing before making any major decisions or actions that might affect China.
In this sense, during this joint law enforcement, Myawaddy is likely to be resolved soon, but the fraud business cannot be eradicated completely. It's still necessary to remain vigilant and avoid trying to make quick money.
