China pushes neighboring countries to rein in scams after rare public outcry

Summary
The abduction of a young Chinese actor, who was trafficked from Thailand to Myanmar, prompted an unusually powerful public-pressure campaign and official actions.Authorities in Beijing are ramping up pressure on neighbors to rein in cyberscams after the high-profile kidnapping of a young Chinese actor who says he was trafficked into a criminal enclave in Myanmar.
Parts of war-torn Myanmar and other countries in Southeast Asia have become havens for sprawling scam compounds, where hundreds of thousands of people are forced to swindle billions of dollars out of victims in the U.S., China and elsewhere. The scammers, many of whom have themselves been duped and effectively enslaved by criminal gangs, often ensnare victims in fake relationships and persuade them to pour money into bogus investments.
This week, the Chinese government called an unusual crisis meeting in the southern city of Kunming with officials from other countries in the region. The officials from Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China pledged to arrest ringleaders, shut down so-called scam dens and free victims of human trafficking, according to a report on Chinese state television.
China has in recent years arrested tens of thousands of people suspected of involvement in the scams, including in raids of scam compounds led by Chinese law enforcement abroad. But Beijing has been criticized for not doing enough to stop the practice, as many of the alleged crimelords behind the scams are Chinese.
China’s latest moves against the burgeoning scam industry were prompted by the kidnapping of a minor film and television actor who says he was lured to Thailand for a shoot. Wang Xing disappeared from a town on Thailand’s border with Myanmar on Jan. 3 and was rescued four days later, following an unusually powerful public-pressure campaign on China’s tightly controlled domestic news and social-media outlets.
China’s Ministry of Public Security later said authorities “dug out a criminal group" that recruited models, actors and film crews by enticing them to Thailand with job offers that were fake and selling them to scam dens. Twelve people have been arrested in connection with the scandal, it said.
The case struck a chord in China, where censorship usually curtails public expression.
News of Wang’s disappearance spread fast after a plea for help from his girlfriend, known by her nickname Jiajia, on Chinese social-media site Weibo. Jiajia said Wang had traveled to Bangkok for a film shoot after a successful online audition. Upon arrival, he got in a vehicle arranged by the recruiter. He felt something wasn’t right, she said.
Wang shared a map with her showing his location and they kept in touch throughout the roughly seven-hour drive, Jiajia said. When they lost contact, she immediately alerted Chinese authorities.
Industrial-scale scam compounds have sprung up in remote areas along Myanmar’s border with Thailand.
Jiajia said she took to social media after her dayslong effort through official channels went nowhere, tagging A-list celebrities in her post. Within a day, news of Wang’s disappearance was trending on Weibo, with related posts viewed more than 400 million times. The story was picked up by state newspapers and local radio stations.
“The authorities and his captors really responded to the public pressure," said Bang Liu, a spokesman for Bangkok-based Mandarin Law Firm, which represented Wang. Two days after Jiajia’s post, Wang was found and freed. Liu said he couldn’t disclose any other details about the rescue.
The public outcry didn’t stop when Wang returned. Two days after his rescue, a spreadsheet began circulating online listing the names of other missing people who loved ones think are trapped in a similar situation. A hashtag referring to the document, called “Star Homecoming Project"—Wang’s given name, Xing, means “star" in Chinese—has been viewed more than 90 million times. As of Wednesday afternoon, the list had grown to include almost 2,000 people purported to be missing.
“This has become a nationwide sensation," said Jason Tower, Myanmar researcher for the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Washington-based think tank. “For China to allow collective action like this shows that they believe it’s in their interest to do something," he said, adding that China may point to domestic public anger to gain leverage when negotiating with neighbors over police access and other security-related matters.
“If Beijing wanted to, it could quash the negative public opinion rising up," Tower said.
This week’s gathering in Kunming also signals that authorities in Beijing might be fed up with the scam industry’s proliferation. Similar meetings and public statements by officials preceded a crackdown in 2023, when Chinese law enforcement launched a series of raids in Myanmar.
Over 53,000 Chinese nationals suspected of cybercrimes including scams have been deported from Myanmar to China since the raids began, official figures show. Human-rights groups say many of those suspects might have been victims of human trafficking, but China doesn’t distinguish between them.
Thailand has had difficulty stopping trafficking because victims often arrive through airports, believing they have legitimate job offers.
China’s Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Public Security didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments.
Law-enforcement officials in the U.S. and elsewhere say the emergence of industrial-scale scam compounds in Southeast Asia has grown into a global crisis. They are often run by transnational gangs and staffed by slaves, typically job-seeking migrants who are trafficked into heavily guarded office buildings and forced to defraud people online. Many Chinese nationals, including some who were already wanted for crimes at home, were deeply involved in establishing this new criminal empire, officials say.
Some of the schemes are known as “pig butchering," as scammers “fatten" their victims by gaining their trust and then “butcher" them by absconding with their money.
Authorities have struggled to get a handle on the problem in part because the compounds are often in remote and lawless areas, such as Myanmar’s militia-controlled borderlands and Cambodian cities where corruption is deeply entrenched. Thailand has become a transit point for traffickers but has also had difficulty stopping the flow of people because victims typically arrive through airports, believing they have legitimate job prospects, and don’t realize they have been kidnapped until it is too late.
The areas where the compounds are built have long been hotbeds of illicit activity. They are home to casinos catering to clientele from mainland China, where gambling is illegal, and are well-established trafficking hubs for drugs and wildlife. Cybercrime exploded there during the Covid-19 pandemic, which put a halt to Chinese and other citizens traveling to casinos and other commerce.
The actor’s ordeal also alarmed officials in Thailand, who worried that safety concerns might hurt revenue from Chinese tourism that is important to the Thai economy. On Wednesday, the government released a video made using generative AI that appeared to show Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra talking in Mandarin, a language she doesn’t speak.
“Thailand’s government puts the safety of all tourists as its utmost priority," Paetongtarn’s AI likeness said.
Write to Feliz Solomon at feliz.solomon@wsj.com and Clarence Leong at clarence.leong@wsj.com