On Thursday (20th February), as many as 1000 Chinese nationals were airlifted from Myanmar to China after being rescued from online scam centres. In recent days, thousands of Chinese nationals who were lured to Thailand on the pretext of jobs and trafficked into Myanmar, have been rescued and repatriated as a part of a crackdown on online scam centres in Myanmar.
These Chinese nationals were forced to carry out romance and investment scams among others. Karen Border Guard Force, a group allied with Myanmar’s military government has announced that it will be deporting all these Chinese nationals from the Myanmar-Thailand border region.
Among those rescued some victims are from India and East Africa, as per the Myanmarese authorities. In December 2024, 6 Indian nationals who were trapped in a job scam were released for deportation back to India. So far, hundreds of Indians have been rescued and deported to India.
The rescued individuals were moved across the border from Myawaddy, Myanmar, to Mae Sot, Thailand. From there, they were flown back to China on chartered flights operated by China Southern Airlines.
The first group of 200 Chinese nationals departed on 20th February, with some flight landing in Nanjing, China, rather than the pre-decided Yunnan Province. The Chinese state media labelled these returnees as “fraud suspects” with visuals of them being handcuffed also emerging on social media.
Notably, Thailand, China and Myanmar are working together to end the menace of online scam centres around the Thailand-Myanmar border. As per the UN estimates, around 1,20,000 people are working in these scam centres operated by criminal gangs taking advantage of instability in Myanmar.
Around 1 lakh people are trapped in similar scam compounds in Cambodia and many in other such centres in Southeast Asia.
Reports say that nearly 7000 people rescued from scam centres in Myanmar are awaiting transfer to Thailand for repatriation to their home countries. Last week, around 260 victims from 20 nations including China, Kenya, and Ethiopia among others were transferred to Thailand.
The recent action against online scam facilities and criminal gangs in the Thailand-Myanmar region began after Chinese actor Wang Xing was lured to Thailand in January, on the pretext of getting a role in a film. Xing was trafficked across the border to Myanmar, however, he was rescued soon after. This incident sparked a discussion on social media about these scam centres etc.
Modus operandi of scamsters
The scamsters defrauded their victims through romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes. The victims are manipulated into sending money or investing in fraudulent schemes often involving cryptocurrency and fake trading platforms. Besides, several online platforms operated from these scam centres trick users into betting money, with the operations rigged to ensure losses.
40,000 Chinese nationals involved in online scams were deported in 2023
Notably, this is not the first wave of repatriations. Back in 2023, China repatriated over 4o,000 of its citizens from scam facilities in northern Shan State after ethnic insurgent victories disrupted syndicate activities.
As Gplus reported back in December 2023, in addition to being a centre for the trafficking of crystal methamphetamine, the northern Shan State in Myanmar is also home to numerous other illicit operations in outposts along the Chinese border. These activities are fuelled by the continuous military conflict and civil turmoil under the junta that took control of the state in a coup in 2021. Being surrounded by China, the northern Shan state has developed into a hub for Chinese scammers preying on their own people.
Between early September and mid-December 2023, more than 40,000 Chinese people were detained and deported in connection to the online scam operations.
