China needs to pressure Myanmar over scam gang crisis, Malaysian group says

Group calls on Beijing to help ‘save the Malaysians’ still trapped in Myanmar, as junta would give ‘serious attention’ to advice from Chinese government

Scam scandal has raised questions on Beijing’s willingness to bring to heel super-rich Chinese businessmen operating ‘special economic zones’ in the Mekong

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A Kuala Lumpur-based rights group has warned Malaysians are among the hundreds still trapped inside the Mekong region’s massive online fraud industry. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:35pm, 17 Oct 2022

China must use its diplomatic leverage over isolated Myanmar to tackle the scam networks menacing Asia, a Kuala Lumpur-based rights group said on Monday, as it warned Malaysians were among the hundreds still trapped inside the Mekong region’s massive online fraud industry.

The scams are run mainly by Chinese gangs, paying or duping young people to target their compatriots with fake investments, fictional romances or cash transfers to bogus police officers.

Hong Kong police last week said tens of millions of dollars had been scammed from city residents alone, mainly from the industrial-scale call centres based in Cambodia and “special economic zones” on the Laos and Myanmar borders.

Malaysians rescued from human traffickers in Cambodia arrive at the Kuala Lumpur Airport Terminal earlier in October 2022. Photo: AP

Chinese, Malaysians, Thais and Indians are among the nationalities to have been rescued after being duped into working as scam agents.

The scourge has so far proved resilient to crackdowns and warnings from Asian governments to their citizens against accepting too-good-to-be-true job offers.

On Monday, the Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation tried a new angle, urging China to press Myanmar’s junta to handle the scam centres on its patch.

In a letter to China’s ambassador to Malaysia, the group urged Beijing to help “save the Malaysian individuals who are currently stranded and tortured in Myanmar”.

“Advice” by the Chinese government to its junior Southeast Asian ally “will be given serious attention” by Myanmar, said the letter, signed by the group’s secretary general Hishamuddin Hashim.