Myanmar repatriates over 2,800 Chinese involved in telecom fraud cases

A total of 2,876 Chinese nationals suspected of involvement in telecom fraud have been repatriated from Myawaddy, Myanmar to China as part of a joint operation involving China, Myanmar, and Thailand, the Ministry of Public Security announced on Friday.

According to the ministry, 2,255 of these suspects were recently transported back to China on chartered flights under the supervision of Chinese police.

This large-scale repatriation represents a major success in the tri-nation operation launched on February 20 and serves as a strong warning to international criminal networks, the ministry said.

The ministry also vowed to strengthen international law enforcement collaboration and intensify efforts to combat telecom fraud, ensuring the safety and property of Chinese citizens are protected.

Last month, a Chinese court sentenced four key figures involved in cross-border telecom fraud to life imprisonment as part of an intensified crackdown on gangs operating scam centers along the Myanmar-Thailand border.

In February, an ethnic armed group in Myanmar’s Karen state freed hundreds of people from 20 nationalities, including Indians, who had been forced to work in these fraud centers and transferred them to Thailand.

These groups lured foreign workers with promises of high salaries or misled them into believing they would be employed in Thailand rather than Myanmar.

According to a BBC report from Thailand, scammers specifically recruited workers proficient in the languages of their cyber fraud targets, primarily English and Chinese.

These scammers posing as officials were involved in a host of banking frauds reported from India and several other countries in which victims were threatened to part with money in online calls.

These online scams in which people lost huge amounts of money created a stir in India, China and several other countries.

The freed foreign workers were handed over to the Thai army by the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), one of several armed factions which control territory inside Karen state, BBC reported earlier.

These armed groups have been accused of allowing the scam compounds to operate under their protection, and tolerating the widespread abuse of trafficking victims who are forced to work in the compounds.

The case of a Chinese actor Wang Xing who was lured to Thailand with the promise of a film role and was then taken across the border to Myanmar and forced to take part in online scam operations went viral in China. He was later rescued by Thai authorities.

With inputs from agencies