China and friends claim success in push to stamp out tech support cyber-scam slave camps

A group established by six Asian nations to fight criminal cyber-scam slave camps that infest the region claims it’s made good progress dismantling the operations.

The Lancang-Mekong law enforcement cooperation (LMLEC) was convened last year and saw Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China vow to stamp out the camps.

These criminal operations are so big they’ve also drawn the attention of Interpol and the FBI.

The Feds in 2023 warned that the camps are run by crims who advertise lucrative and all-expenses paid jobs in Asia, working as tech support people, beauty salon technicians, or call center staff.

Those who travel to Asia to take up the jobs often find the place of work is not in the city they were promised, and that travel costs, accommodation and board are not actually free but must instead be paid for.

Most who fall for the recruitment scam are therefore held to be in debt to their employer from day one. The scum who run the camps often confiscate passports, and threaten workers with violence, before putting them to work running all sorts of scams. Leaving the camps is not allowed without clearing ever-mounting debts, and conditions are so miserable that there are reports of workers dying after making risky escape attempts.

Many of the camps are in the sparsely policed border regions of Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. The US Department of Treasury last year alleged a Cambodian senator had a role in operating a camp near the Thai border. We’ve also reported on an 875-person romance scam center in the Philippines. It’s also thought that Myanmar’s military junta chooses not to police some camps.

If you get a call from a tech support scammer, or a pitch for a too-good-to-be-true investment opportunity, there’s a decent chance it comes from one of these camps. That advice applies to Reg readers around the world, because gangs aim to find workers from wherever they can. Most of those freed from the Philippines romance scam center were foreigners, and Brazilian nationals have been rescued from other facilities.

Beijing hates these camps and the crooks who run them, because it’s thought 100,000 of its citizens have been lured into slavery and forced to scam many more Chinese citizens.

China’s ire is a big reason why the LMLEC commenced operations last year and met earlier this week to consider progress and next steps.

Chinese media report that the group’s efforts during 2024 saw the arrest of 70,000 suspects, and over 160 people freed. Recent operations also managed to stop some weapons smugglers, one of the ways crims use cash generated by scams.

The LMLEC has now reportedly vowed to deepen intelligence sharing and conduct joint operations.

Member nations have also given themselves the job of cleaning scammers out of Myawaddy, a town on the Myanmar/Thailand border.

But member nations have also promised to sort this out for years. And the camps are still running. ®