Startling reports from Japanese media outlets say multiple Japanese people are being held against their will by Chinese scammers who are camped out in the borderlands of Myanmar. Estimates say over 20 Japanese citizens may have found themselves ensnared in the scheme.
Organized crime groups in Asia are making increasing use of so-called “Dark Gig” economy (闇バイト; yami baito) workers that they recruit online to carry out crimes. Once someone who’s young and financially desperate commits a crime for them, the group uses threats and coercion to ensure they keep working.
The Dark Gig has exploded in Japan in recent years. The so-called Luffy crime ring in Japan used passport seizure and threats of violence to keep Japanese citizens and others trapped in locations like the Philippines, where they were forced to run fraudulent scams on victims back in Japan.
Now, a report from Japan’s NTV says that 20+ Japanese citizens and others may have fallen victim to a similar Chinese-led group.
The outfit reputedly runs its operations in Myanmar, which is still in the midst of a protracted civil war. With only an estimated 40% of the country still under the control of Myanmar’s military junta, criminals are reportedly setting up shop in unruled portions of the nation along its massive border with China.
A Thailand-based anti-sex trafficking organization first raised the alarm bells about the group this month. A Moroccan woman recounts being trapped by the criminals and told she needed to give them USD $7,500 to secure her release.
The 27-year-old said she feared for her life after finding two other women murdered in their rooms.
A 38-year-old Chinese man told NTV about how he’d been lured in by the group to run scams on their behalf from Myanmar. He said there were at least two groups running on several floors of the building he was trapped in, with up to hundreds of victims working under coercion.
The group’s leader told him they were kidnapping Japanese and Korean citizens to make it easier to deceive potential scam targets in each country. “He said you can’t scam Japanese and Korean people without native speakers,” the man testified.
The actual number of Japanese citizens ensnared within these schemes, as well as their exact location, is currently unknown. The Thai group says groups are currently actively recruiting new victims from Japan.
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