Exclusive: Infiltrating Myanmar’s scam syndicates | 101 East Documentary – Transcript

00:12A massive illegal enterprise operating in plain sight but shrouded in secrecy. Southeast Asia's cyber scam industry has stolen trillions of dollars from victims around the world.

00:28Now, in a global exclusive, >> >> 101 East goes undercover to meet crime bosses acting with impunity. Our two-year investigation reveals a highly organized network built on greed and forced criminality.

00:48>> >> I said I won't work. The guys handcuffed me and took me to the jail. >> As law enforcement authorities play catch-up, we learn that Chinese syndicates are evolving and setting up new operations around the world.

01:30Bangkok, Thailand is a city of 11 million people. Multiple sources tell 101 East it's also a base for scam bosses operating in Southeast Asia.

01:43Posing as corrupt businessmen seeking investment opportunities, our undercover team arranges a meeting with alleged con man Dave So Khothan. He begins by boasting about his many projects.

01:58>> He's only forex money game, policy game, politics game. >> But it's not long before he tells our undercover team where to put their money.

02:23He's referring to huge-scale compounds that have mushroomed across Southeast Asia in recent years. Closely surveilled and inaccessible to outsiders, these facilities can accommodate thousands of workers.

02:38>> So these are the industrial-scale scam compounds that are perpetrating these sophisticated types of of fraud, largely under the control of China-linked transnational organized crime groups.

02:51>> Jason Tower is an expert on transnational organized crime. He says Chinese fraud syndicates had their start in online gambling before turning to cyber scams. >> It was really during, I think, COVID that you saw this pivot towards tricking and trafficking more and more people into the scam centers that they started to use forced criminality much more as part of the business model.

03:26>> Very disciplined. >> Our team tells Sakor Than they are unfamiliar with the business. He has already solution. >> Bro, master degree.

03:52>> Days later, our reporters meet the Corthan's associate. Lin Cong Chen is a Chinese national from Fujian province. He says he manages scam compounds in Myanmar and Laos and for a fee can help our team set up one, too.

04:16Over several meetings, they gain rare insight into a highly organized crime model. One of the first things Lin makes clear is the difference between scam compounds and scam companies.

04:45According to Lin, a single compound can accommodate hundreds of companies involved in a range of cyber fraud activities. He also shares this list of rules from inside his facilities.

04:59They're what he calls closed compounds, where workers can't leave without permission. Photography and filming are not allowed and guards are on duty 24 hours a day. There is another reason for confining

05:24thousands of workers in one location. Lin says they're a captive pool of consumers.

05:50>> Our undercover reporter asks Lin about the location of his Myanmar compound. Tai Chang compound. It's a name familiar to one of our least.

06:16We've seen the facility, a mini city visible from Thailand's side of its border with Myanmar. Months before our undercover team's first meeting with Lin, a Ugandan worker

06:40issued this call for help from inside Tai Chang compound. Nassif's message, which he recorded in secret and uploaded onto social media, doesn't just catch our attention.

07:03It's forwarded to Betty Bigombe, Uganda's ambassador to Southeast Asia. >> I said, "Please reach out to me, and I'll try to see how I can help you." >> We meet the ambassador in the Thai border town of Mae Sot.

07:22Across the river is Myawaddy, Myanmar, a region now known as a hub of criminality. The scam compounds are impossible to miss. Cluster after cluster of buildings protected by high walls.

07:38>> This is outrageous, >> >> and everybody can see it. >> Tai Chong is farther up river. Bikombe says Nassif and 22 other Ugandans were tricked into going there.

07:54>> Huge number of people fall prey to what appears to be legitimate job opportunities. >> Inside Tai Chong, footage filmed secretly by the Ugandans shows soldiers everywhere.

08:09They're from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, or DKBA, an ethnic armed group sanctioned by the US for supporting cyber scam centers. In another video, Nassif's legs are swollen and shaking.

08:25He says he was severely beaten. >> The kind of torture, brutality in that area, I could never in my wildest dream believe it's happening in the 21st century.

08:41>> Bikombe says at first she tried negotiating with Nassif's Chinese manager. >> He said, "If you can pay a ransom of $10,000 per person, we can release them."

08:54So, I said, "We're very poor people. This is Africa. We don't have that kind of money." Couple of days later, he came back and said, "Uh well, I have agreed to reduce the amount of money to $5,000 per person."

09:10>> Unwilling to pay, Bikombe turns to this man for help. An NGO worker who's participated in dozens of rescue operations. He suggests negotiating with the DKBA instead of the Chinese gang.

09:26>> I also um living in the border for so long, and I know the ideologies of the rebel groups and the leaders. So, we arranged a meeting in the one of the hotel somewhere in northern part of Thailand.

09:40>> They meet the DKBA behind closed doors hoping to persuade the armed group to pressure the Chinese into letting the Ugandans go free of charge. >> When you're paying the ransom money, it's like you're supporting these criminal activities.

09:57We don't like to support this thing. >> I went out to engage them to negotiate with them and to say, "Please help me. If you can free the hostages, it would be a very good for your reputation."