Zecharias ZelalemFeb 17

Hello fediverse friends.

For The Globe and Mail newspaper, I've spent the last four months hearing from survivors of Myanmar's infamous scam compounds. Run by Chinese criminal syndicates with the collaboration of at least one Burmese pro-junta militia, the camps are staffed by trafficking victims, including a growing number of Africans who are beaten, electrocuted and raped if they don't meet scamming targets. They aren't paid for their efforts.

My story is published.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-africans-scam-camps-myanmar-scamming-rings-asia/

Africans are being confined and beaten in scam camps in Myanmar

Migrants toil for long hours on social-media platforms, targeting people with crypto and romance scams

The Globe and Mail
Show threadZecharias ZelalemFeb 17
Since 2021, a coup induced civil war, and the pandemic have created a booming scamming industry based out of Myanmar. Hundreds of scam compounds have since sprouted up, typically along the Burmese-Thai border. They target westerners with cryptocurrency and romance scams. But they are staffed by trafficked people from across Asia and Africa, who travel to Thailand believing they will be hired at well paying tech jobs in Bangkok...before being driven across the border where their ordeal begins.
Show threadZecharias ZelalemFeb 17

Chinese scam camp operators in Myanmar have tortured and even murdered victims. But Meseret Mulu, a 27 year old Ethiopian woman, told me that at one point, the criminals brought in fighters from the DKBA (Democratic Karen Benevolent Army), a Burmese militia group allied with the junta...to come in and torture her, by stripping her naked and forcing her to spend hours in searing heat.

Warring factions take a cut to allow Chinese mafia gangs to open camps in their territory.

Show threadZecharias ZelalemFeb 17

The criminals operate in Myanmar, because it's too dangerous for them to do so in China. Last month, 11 Chinese operators of Burmese scam camps were executed in China.

Thailand tries to curb activities, including by shutting off internet to border villages where the scam camps are located.

How have the criminals reconnected to the web in response to this? Via good old Elon Musk. Starlink is among the biggest internet providers to Southeast Asian scamming compounds.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2gdrvy9gjo

China executes 11 members of Myanmar scam mafia

China executes 11 members of the Ming family that ran scam centres in Myanmar, state media report.

Show threadLukefromDC
@ZekuZelalem Very satisfying to see those 11 slavers rotting in their graves, but this is NOT who China (or anyone else) usually executes. My guess is they enslaved too many Chinese citizens, forcing the government to make a token gesture.
Feb 17 at 9:39amWeb
Show threadZecharias ZelalemFeb 18

@LukefromDC Your assessment is accurate. Chinese victims have been trafficked and even murdered. One particular case in which an actual celebrity, a Chinese actor was trafficked to Myanmar provoked a lot of outrage in China and demands for accountability. As you imply, I also don't believe Chinese justice would be as robust if the victims were solely Africans.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/14/wang-xing-chinese-actor-abduction-thailand-myanmar-scam-ntwnfb

A kidnapped Chinese actor, a scam gang, and a very public rescue operation

Wang Xing was abducted in Thailand by increasingly bold crime gangs operating in Myanmar, putting an entire tourism industry at risk

The Guardian