A file photo of a locked building inside a scam centre in Bamban, province of Tarlac, in the Philippines. Scam centres have mushroomed across South-East Asia, with crime syndicates luring, kidnapping or coercing workers into predatory online activity, and raking in billions of dollars. — AFP
China, Thailand and other nations have reached a deal to target cybercrime centres that have taken root in South-East Asian nations – a sign the governments are keen to crack down on gangs stealing millions of dollars from their people and damaging tourism.
Officials from the countries, along with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, gathered in Kunming on Jan 21 where they pledged to extend law-enforcement efforts that have already led to the arrest of more than 70,000 suspects, according to China’s Global Times. Police will also target the leaders of an illegal industry that has trafficked thousands of people to work in the centres.
A “coalition will be launched, and will fight against communication fraud and serial crimes continuously”, China’s embassy in Myanmar said in a Facebook post. “Especially the lost and imprisoned citizens from each country will be rescued with all our capacity.”
While the call-centre scams have been around for years, the issue recently took on greater importance, especially for officials in Beijing and Bangkok, when a little-known Chinese actor named Wang Xing was apparently tricked into working in one, causing an uproar back home as the episode spread across social media.
Wang was later found but the incident dented Thailand’s appeal among tourists just weeks before China’s biggest annual holiday. – Bloomberg
