Lured into illegal smuggling by ＂high salary＂, people who returned to China surrendered to tell the story of ＂electric fraud nightmare＂ in Myanmar.

[Global Times reporter Fan Wei Hu Yuwei special correspondent Jiang Bohuai] Recently, many China students believed in the temptation of getting rich and were tricked into losing contact with Myanmar, which once again aroused strong concern among domestic people about the problem of illegal smuggling. Although these lost students were finally found after many efforts, the evil phenomenon of luring others to sneak out of the country and engage in illegal activities still exists, and some people still have illusions about the false "gold rush dream". Recently, Yang, a self-confessed person who was deceived and smuggled abroad for nearly two years, told the Global Times reporter about his tragic experience of inhuman torture abroad. Yang told the Global Times reporter that he hoped to use his personal experience to warn people who had the same fantasies as him not to make the same mistakes again.

"When he lifted his underwear on his back and thighs, the scars deeply embedded in his skin shocked all the policemen present," a policeman at the entry-exit frontier inspection station in Ruili, Yunnan, who participated in receiving Yang, told the Global Times reporter that at the moment when he saw Yang show his scars, he and his colleagues around him could not believe that such a tragic experience had happened to a young man who was only 18 years old.

And the beginning of all this, just because of an overseas "gold rush" message.

Yang comes from a county in Guizhou, but he always has a dream of getting rich one day at a young age. One day in December 2020, he accidentally received a short message from abroad, which said that a company in Myanmar was recruiting salesmen. "As long as you can surf the Internet, you can chat with customers on your mobile phone and promote your products, you can easily earn 100,000 yuan a month! Food, shelter, and round-trip air tickets … "Yang told the Global Times reporter that after several days of careful consideration, he finally failed to resist the temptation of high salary and planned to take a trip outside while he was young. So I immediately got in touch with the other party, agreed on a good time, and sneaked abroad under the arrangement of the other party.

"But it doesn’t feel right when you get there. It doesn’t look like a place where you can make money," Yang said. After arriving in Myanmar, he went with the car to a "company" hidden in an unknown mountain. Although the connector claimed to be a "company", it was just a few iron houses built sporadically on the grassy grass, and the environment was very poor.

Before his previous contact showed up, he was taken to a dark room and forced to hand over his mobile phone, bank card and ID card. "When I first arrived in Myanmar at night, the wind outside made a creaking noise on the iron sheet. In the dormitory of two dozen people, the double-decker iron bed would make a harsh noise as soon as it turned over, and a pale yellow light would light up in a small toilet. I couldn’t sleep over and over in bed, and my heart was not practical, "Yang recalled the night when he first arrived in Myanmar.

The next day, the "company" manager led Yang to the place of work. "I asked what it was, and the person who took the class told me that it was fraud through online social software. Before leaving the country, my contact always told me that I was engaged in’ promotion’ work after arriving in Myanmar, and did not disclose that I wanted to engage in fraud. "Yang said that he immediately refused, but five or six big men rushed out of the inner room and dragged him into the inner room, followed by a burst of punching and kicking. Subsequently, Yang was detained by gunmen and restricted his personal freedom until he signed a work contract with the company a week later, but he lost his freedom and dignity since then. Not only did I not get the so-called "high salary" at the beginning, but I was also intimidated and brainwashed to "go to work" to engage in telecom fraud.

Yang recalled that the "company" manager asked him to complete the work tasks of the day every day before he got off work. Every day, "colleagues" are dragged to the inner room and beaten up, or handcuffed and electrocuted, and shouts are often heard from the inner room. This happens to everyone who can’t finish the task, and he is not spared.

"One day, because I didn’t complete the task arranged by the company, I was asked by the manager of the’ company’ to take off my clothes in public, kneel on the ground, and then beat my back, ass and thighs with a whip, leaving a deep imprint. In a short time, my back was beaten raw and bloody, and I could smell the faint smell of blood in the surrounding air. Half an hour later, perhaps because I was tired from playing, or because I thought I was still of use value, the manager of the’ company’ stopped waving the whip in his hand and threatened me that if I didn’t get results within a week, I would dig out my kidney and sell it! Speaking of the scene that he had been abused, Yang was still a little afraid.

In order not to be whipped again by the manager, Yang worked overtime every day and exhausted his efforts to complete the tasks arranged by the "company". I thought this life would be easier. Unexpectedly, due to the serious lack of long-term overtime sleep, there was a mistake in the work, so the manager of the company slapped him continuously, which led to the rupture of the eardrum of the left ear. The manager also pointed a gun at Yang’s head to warn him not to do it again.

In the days of living an inhuman life, Yang also thought about running away, but because his ID card had been taken away and he was a stranger, he couldn’t escape at all. "The company is located in the barren hills and there are guards at the door, and they can’t let me escape. Someone tried to escape, but they were quickly recovered. What was waiting for them was a beating and then put in jail," Yang said.

Finally, because of his mediocre performance in "work", Yang was sold as "goods" by the "company" managers to a number of companies engaged in fraud. But each time, they suffered from worse environment and more brutal abuse.

Yang said that during his two years of smuggling abroad, he was whipped and injured in more than 20 places, especially leaving a 15cm-long scar on his calf. In the past two years, he wanted to leave countless times, but every time he mentioned this to the manager of the company, he was beaten up and couldn’t get out of bed for two or three days. Because of his physical pain, Yang dared not mention leaving again. Every day, he lived like a walking corpse.

The last "company" where Yang worked was located in a mountain near Muse City, Myanmar. After coming to this "company", Yang still engaged in the same "work" as the first two companies. The only difference was that the manager of this "company" told him that as long as he could pay 60,000 yuan, he could let him leave and regain his freedom. The hope of life prompted Yang to start making fraudulent phone calls day and night, hoping to earn enough money to be redeemed as soon as possible and escape from here as soon as possible.

In February of this year, Yang, who had experienced a nightmare life in Myanmar for nearly two years, finally saved enough money to be redeemed and regained his freedom. At the first time he left the company, Yang came to Ruili Port to surrender to the police at the border checkpoint on duty at the port.

"It feels really good to go home. I can accompany my parents and do what I want. Even if I take a class at home, it is better than there. In the future, I want to open my own grilled fish shop and stop thinking about the dream of getting rich overnight." The police at the entry-exit frontier inspection station in Ruili, Yunnan Province told the Global Times reporter that when he met Yang, he kept expressing his regret for easily listening to others smuggling out of the country, and at the same time he was glad that he had the opportunity to become the kind of person who escaped from inhuman torture. At present, Yang has been taken criminal compulsory measures in accordance with the law for allegedly crossing the country (border), and the case is being handled.

In recent years, some people have been tricked into engaging in online gambling and telecom fraud abroad by the high salary trap. These cross-border illegal activities have triggered a series of chain social problems in Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand, such as murder, kidnapping and human trafficking. In order to crack down on a series of criminal activities, on March 20th, a trilateral meeting on human trafficking jointly held by the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, the National Police of the Republic of Myanmar and the National Police Department of Thailand was held in Bangkok, Thailand, which will jointly crack down on transnational crimes such as human trafficking and telecom fraud.

According to the China Embassy in Myanmar, on March 23rd, Chen Hai, Ambassador of China to Myanmar, also held a meeting with Lieutenant General Soto, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Myanmar, on stepping up efforts to crack down on illegal cross-border criminal activities such as cyber fraud and gambling.

Ambassador Chen Hai pointed out that illegal cross-border criminal activities such as online fraud and gambling harm people’s interests and safety, undermine social stability and order, and affect China-Myanmar exchanges and cooperation. Recently, many incidents of Chinese personnel crossing the border to Myanmar have the background of illegal activities such as online fraud and gambling in Myanmar. It is hoped that Myanmar will attach great importance to the seriousness and harmfulness of related activities, further strengthen coordination and cooperation with China, intensify efforts to crack down on related illegal activities, and create a clear environment for China-Myanmar friendly cooperation.

Suotu said that Myanmar is well aware of the dangers of illegal activities such as online fraud and gambling, attaches great importance to the position that China has repeatedly stated, and has stepped up efforts to crack down. In view of the recent continuation of illegal activities in Myanmar, Myanmar is willing to join forces with China and other relevant neighboring countries to resolutely crack down and effectively curb them, and jointly safeguard the friendly cooperation between China and Myanmar and the safety of people’s lives and property.