Reported for several years by numerous human rights organizations, the appeal centers dedicated to the romantic scams of Myanmar still do not seem to disappear, despite a muscular police operation to leave them last February. On the contrary, its number exploded in the space of a few months, as revealed by a Nikkei investigation.
Thanks to the testimony of a man from southern Asia who was arrested for six months at the KK Park, one of the largest centers in the country, we discovered the scope of the phenomenon, made of violence, work to the channel and love scams where all blows are allowed to load the victims.
Fortified complexes born in the remains of Chinese casinos
Torture room, regular humiliations, but also fired in the head, violence is daily in these centers where people who are slaves work up to 16 hours a day.
Thanks to the satellite images, the Nikkei newspaper discovered that new criminal complexes have been built along the border between Myanmar and Thailand. The authorities of the two countries have been trying for long months to stop the phenomenon, without success so far. Along the border, there are at least 16 sites, with the common point of occupying a particularly important place.
The problem did not exist until the arrival of the COVID-19. At that time, these residences, designed in association with China, were in fact casinos. But after the pandemic, the economic crisis caused many of them to become specialists in online fraud.
To find those who will work in these centers, their managers pass classified ads, mountains and promising wonders. Many Asian countries see that some of their nationals disappear after trying to find work.
Prevent people from coming out
In May 2025, the police could find a Chinese actor, Xu Bochum, who had been captured by a network of traffickers when he thought he was responding to a casting announcement. The case had reached the headlines in China, pushing its president, Xi Xiping, to take the problem seriously, pressing Myanmar and Thailand.
The model is always the same: “Each one had four iPhone in which we had to administer 20 Instagram accounts to cheat people with false investments in cryptocurrencies,” explained Xu Bochum, in Franceinfo, “almost without breaks, from 10 am to 2 am.”
What reveals the Nikkei survey is that each of these centers has three specific characteristics, which suggests that these are prisons. The first is the most revealing: walls or barbed wire, which surround the properties, with surveillance towers to closely follow the captives.
The second consists of buildings that can accommodate a large number of people who do not need to leave: the team present in the place is made to control the population and comings and goings.
Finally, the third feature is geographical: each center borders a large river, with ships that can cross the border with Thailand to bring new slaves back.
Defenseless authorities in front of the phenomenon
These call centers, whose main fraud is to make a western victim believe that he is in contact with a person in love with her, so that he can send money through a cryptocurrency fraud system, swept from at least 2021, date of the beginning of the civil war in Myanmar. While the military government, as a result of a coup d’etat, is too busy silencing their opponents, criminals continue their traffic without being really worried.
The safety of these centers is most of the time the prerogative of the armed groups, which also control part of the region, reveals the Nikkei.
The scams linked to these places would represent up to 37 billion dollars in losses in Asia in this and southeast, the UN had revealed. A phenomenon that goes far beyond drugs: “It is one of the most lucrative operations carried out by global criminal organizations,” explains Trairong Phiwphan, of the Cybercriminiality Research Office on Japanese daily.
For these actions to cease, the only solution would be greater international cooperation, writes the Nikkei. Because the repression of the authorities shows that the centers continue to grow, resulting in an increase in the potential for discomfort of operations. Today, there are also centers in Laos and Cambodia.
Source: BFM TV
