August 22, 2024 • 18 mins
A Chinese businessman persuaded officials to establish a special economic zone in a remote part of Laos. The gamblers arrived first. Then came the drug runners, human traffickers and scammers.
On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg Businessweek editor Matt Campbell about his investigation into the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone and how it became a criminal’s paradise.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
On the banks of the Mekong River and Laos there's
a startling site. After traveling through small plantations of coffee
and bananas, a winding road descends into what looks like
a city emerging from the jungle.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
It completely stands out.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Matt Campbell is Asia editor for Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
There are really tall buildings, huge skyscrapers. There is a
big shopping complex. You can hear music and see neon
light shows.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
At night.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
A spectacular fountain show plays in the middle of an
open plaza. Choreographed jets of water dance in sync with
Chinese music and neon spotlights. In the area around it,
there's an artificial lake and nearby a large casino. But
amid this seemingly gleaming new city, there are allegations that
something much more sinister is taking place here.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Yeah, they keep my passport when I arrived for the
first time in the laws LAMB.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
We're calling this woman City and we've altered her voice
due to safety concerns. City says she was trafficked to
work in what's believed to be a fast growing type
of business in this area of LAOS known as the
Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. She says she was forced
to work in a scam center here, duping people for money.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I become a scamera and they teach me how to
become a scamera.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
And city is believed to be one of many by
the estimates that have been made, and of course they are.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Estimates because to some extent this is unknowable, tens of
thousands of people working in the scam business and the
Special Economic Zone.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on what it
says is a criminal organization that runs this area, and
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has identified
the zone as a nexus of money laundering, but the
sanctions have had no obvious impact on the zone's expansion,
and LAO leaders have never taken action against the chairman
(02:17):
of the zone, a Chinese businessman named Joo Wi. Welcome
to the Big Tach Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm wanh.
Every week we take you inside some of the world's
biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons and
(02:38):
businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today on the
show Inside the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, how a
hub created for economic development, became a hive of criminal
activity and why authorities don't seem interested in stopping it.
(03:03):
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Laos has been
a notorious drug smuggling passageway for about a decade, but
beginning around twenty twenty two, in the midst of COVID,
police and diplomats in Southeast Asia took note of what
appeared to be a major new business here in this
part of Laos.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Crypto scam centers places where workers, many of them who
trafficked and held against their will, spend their time trying
to befriend people online and persuading those people, generally in
rich countries so US, Western Europe to some extent China,
to make scam investments where they then lose all their money.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
One former scam center worker that Matt spoke to was
a woman we're calling City. She's a young Indonesian who
says she was trafficked to work there.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
She had a very typical experience in that she answered
a job ad on Facebook. In her case, it was
to work doing computer graphics, which matched quite well with
her skills. She was told the job would be in Thailand,
but in fact she ended up in Llows, in a
building that was like a prison and where she was
(04:20):
forced to work against her will, scanning people in the
United States.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
They pay for everything until I arrived in Laos, but
after that everything chants. They lock us, all of us inside.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Matt says. City told him she had to surrender her
passport and she couldn't leave the building without an access card.
She was allowed to keep her phone, but her managers
would routinely go through her messages. Siddy says she was
taught to run the scams like this.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I need to have set story for middle guy in
online chatting, then I get the customer trust.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Often the initial contact is made on dating sites, so
someone who's actually in a fluorescent lit office in the
special economic zone is posing as a young single woman
who's living somewhere in the US, stringing along generally a
man who they're talking to.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I have a toolplace is a California and another one
is Virginia. Then I say like, yeah, I'm very set woman,
and then I will say I also don't have husband.
That's why I come to looking. Maybe I have a
lacking things for nit a guy in this online day thing.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And the way this works is called pig butchering, and
the metaphor it's a bit inelegant, is that you're fattening
a pig and then you eventually slaughter it. And the
fattening the pig is building trust, building a relationship with
these online marks, and gradually and without pushing too hard,
(06:02):
convincing this quote unquote customer to make investments in generally crypto,
and like all the best scams, these ones pay off.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
At first it's real probate, like one thousand, two thousand.
Then after that you put more until you put all
of your money, and then after a very big because they.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Move in for the kill, butchering the pig if you like,
and then maybe you put in your whole life savings.
You put it onto a crypto platform that is controlled
by the scam center, and that money disappears booth it's gone.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
City and several other scam center employees told Matt there
were consequences if the workers failed to get enough customers.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
They are punished severely with things like beatings or electric shocks.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
One off, China, Smaan didn't get the customer after I'm
not sure how many loans, and they watch him with
Oh way.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So you saw this man being wept.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, until the blood everywhere. They put this guy in
front of the levator for so us. This is Funny's
funey you will get if you didn't allow our rules.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
City was desperate to get out, but the place was
heavily guarded, and she says she didn't know who to trust.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
I see also one time someone tried to run out
from the building and he get the electric show. At
three am. He get the electric show. I say, why still,
this is not human So he said if you try,
if you still want to go out, they will kill you.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Scam Centers like this one city worked in are incredibly
lucrative businesses in this unique special economic zone in laos
as mad and As College Pitcha Taneka Simpipat highlighted in
their investigation. A recent report by the United States Institute
of Peace, a Congress funded research institution, estimated that the
amount stolen by scam centers in Maycon countries likely exceeds
(08:15):
forty three billion dollars a year. That total includes considerable
losses in the US and Europe, as well as China.
So who is behind this alleged criminal enterprise.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
The founder and the face of this project is a
Chinese businessman named Chiao Wi.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Totally, I am well, it's not a great thing that
the Golden Triangle has a terrible reputation.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Chiao Wei portrays himself as a kind of kindly godfather
who is bringing development to allows in a somewhat paternalistic way.
There is a lot of talk about helping the Lao
people better themselves, helping them tap the prosperity of China,
bringing them out of poverty.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
People used to say that you'd lose a kidney in
the Golden Triangle, but actually this place is peaceful.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Here, Jou Wai is speaking to several media outlets in
a YouTube video posted earlier.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
This year, because we are here to promote tourism to
boost the economy. Now, through our joint efforts, we're turning
this place into a region that is developed economically and
financially in all aspects.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
After the break, how did Jowwei come to run this place?
And if the Golden Triangles Special Economic Zone really is
a hub of criminal activity, why is he still in charge.
(10:02):
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone was the brainchild of
a Chinese businessman named chiao Wei.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
He's from the far northeast of China in halong Jiang,
which is a very cold, larshly rural province. He left
school for his teenage years, ended up working various sort
of odd jobs, and somehow in the nineties ended up
in the casino business in Macau, just next to Hong Kong.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Jaoo built a large casino business in the Asian gambling capital,
and then when the market got crowded in Macau, he
moved the operations in the mid two thousands to Southeast Asia,
to less regulated places like me and Mar and eventually Laos.
And it was in Laos, this small landlocked country sandwiched
between Thailand and Vietnam, where Joo developed close relationships with
(10:56):
decision makers in the country. In two thousand and six,
he struck up a deal with allow government to set
up this special economic zone, which he said would bring
growth and prosperity to the country.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
When this was beginning, the pitch to the local population
was more or less that this is going to be
great for you. This is going to bring a lot
of development. There are going to be jobs, and you
will benefit.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
The government entrusted thirty nine square miles and control of
the project at Jow by granting him a ninety nine
year lease that gave him de facto control over the city.
He started with building a gambling palace and from there
it's grown into what's become a small city and effectively
a fortress for Joo himself.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
He's in charge. Lao law may theoretically apply, but in
practice law enforcement regulation that's all up to the Special
Economic Zones managers, namely Johwet and his Liltuture tenants. Lao
police have not been able to enter accept with permission
(12:05):
of management. So it was almost like a little empire
within a sovereign country in which Jahwei and his colleagues
had just about complete control, and they appear to continue
to enjoy that status.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And as a special Economic zone grew and more money
poured in, it didn't take long for law enforcement agencies
in the US and Thailand to suspect that more was
going on beneath the surface.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Within a few years of Jahwe setting up this place
beginning construction, law enforcement officials in the region were getting
reports that large amounts of methamphetamine were being trafficked through
the site.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
In twenty eighteen, the US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on
what it called the Jauwei transnational criminal Organization. It said
the Special Economic Zone was a hub for the trafficking
of drugs, people, and wildlife, as well as money laundering
and bribery, and more recently, the Special Economic Zone has
(13:08):
diversified into hosting scam centers. Joo said in the past
that drugs and the trafficking of drugs and people are
prohibited in the zone, and that quote, we definitely do
not allow scamming. The Golden Triangle's Special Economic Zone management
didn't respond to Bloomberg's detailed request for comment from Joo.
(13:29):
Lao government officials also didn't respond to requests for comment
on this story. After Bloomberg sent inquiries, Lao State Media
reported that the government had ordered the removal of scam
centers in the Special Economic Zone by late August. State
media said the shutdown ordered on the scam centers came
after a meeting between Jow and high ranking officials from
(13:52):
the Lao Ministry of Public Security as well as the
governor of the Lao province where the Economic Zone is located.
But Matt says it's it's unclear how or whether such
an order will be enforced, and he says despite the
allegations of crimes from international authorities, there wasn't much law
enforcement action from Laos before this latest announcement on state media, and.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
The reason for that is simple. The Lao government is
actually an investor in the project. The Lao government, when
the special economic zone was created, took a twenty percent
stake in the project. We don't know if it's still
a twenty percent stake. There is some indication the stake
may actually have gone up. Johwet is in business with
(14:35):
the Lao government in this project.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
But the crimes alleged to be happening in the Golden
Triangle Economic Zone aren't just problems for the Lao government.
The vast majority of the alleged scam victims are from
the US, Europe and China, and in recent months, Lao authorities,
presumably at the urging of the Chinese government, have arrested
more than one thousand Chinese citizens who were allegedly working
(15:01):
inside scam operations in the economic zone. They were deported
back to their home country, and last year, according to
the US Institute of Peace, these scam operations across Southeast
Asia together stole more than three point five billion dollars
from Americans. So why hasn't the US taken further action?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Even if you are the TEA or the FBI, or
one of these American law enforcement agencies which have global reach,
at least on a good day, you are still constrained
by sovereignty.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Meaning there's only so much you can do about alleged
crime that's happening in another country, even when it's reportedly
targeting your citizens.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
The specially economic zone is in Laos. The Lao government
doesn't appear to have a problem with it.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Joo himself hasn't been charged with any crime, but he
does appear to be.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Careful as we know, he certainly is not traveling anywhere
where he could be subject to US extradition request.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And as for the young woman we're calling city, the
Indonesian worker Matt talked to, who said she was forcefully
held inside a scam center in the economic zone. She
did eventually find a way out two months after her
rival in Laos City saw her chance.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
The way she escaped in her account is that she
was taken across the river into Thailand to renew her
permission to work in Laos and took the opportunity at
that point to make a run for.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
It because understanding us, they didn't go with us. They
just sending us alone. But there they have someone, but
we didn't know who is the person who's waiting for us. There.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
When she was taken over the border into Thailand to
renew her visa, she saw a moment when it seemed
like nobody was watching and jumped into attack that got
her to the airport in chang Rai in northern Thailand.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I'm telling the taxi guy like please us helping me.
I want to go to airport. Then they follow me
until to the airport. The two guys, the big one,
they're looking for me and I hiding in a counter.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
In City's case, she made it to the airport in
chiang Rai, She says she actually ended up hiding in
a simcard shop behind the counter while she waited for
a flight that a friend had booked for her online.
And then she made it out and eventually back to Indonesia,
her home country.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
City says she was lucky she's the only one who
took off on that visa run to Thailand, but Matt
says countless other traffic labors are still trapped, forced to
work at the scam centers like the one city escaped from.
This is The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I'm wan ha.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
This episode was produced by Naomi Um Young Young, Jessica Beck,
and Thomas lou who also fact checked it. It was
mixed by Blake Maples. It was edited by Jeremy Keene
and Caitlin Kenny. There was additional reporting from Papita tanaka Simpipot,
and we'd like to give a special shout out to
Bloomberg's Originals team. Our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso, Nicole
(18:20):
Beemster Bower is our executive producer, and Sage Bouman is
Bloomberg's head of Podcasts. Please follow and review The Big
Take Asia wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps new
listeners find the show. See you next time.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
On the banks of the Mekong River and Laos there's
a startling site. After traveling through small plantations of coffee
and bananas, a winding road descends into what looks like
a city emerging from the jungle.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
It completely stands out.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Matt Campbell is Asia editor for Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
There are really tall buildings, huge skyscrapers. There is a
big shopping complex. You can hear music and see neon
light shows.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
At night.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
A spectacular fountain show plays in the middle of an
open plaza. Choreographed jets of water dance in sync with
Chinese music and neon spotlights. In the area around it,
there's an artificial lake and nearby a large casino. But
amid this seemingly gleaming new city, there are allegations that
something much more sinister is taking place here.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Yeah, they keep my passport when I arrived for the
first time in the laws LAMB.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
We're calling this woman City and we've altered her voice
due to safety concerns. City says she was trafficked to
work in what's believed to be a fast growing type
of business in this area of LAOS known as the
Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. She says she was forced
to work in a scam center here, duping people for money.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I become a scamera and they teach me how to
become a scamera.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
And city is believed to be one of many by
the estimates that have been made, and of course they are.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Estimates because to some extent this is unknowable, tens of
thousands of people working in the scam business and the
Special Economic Zone.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on what it
says is a criminal organization that runs this area, and
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has identified
the zone as a nexus of money laundering, but the
sanctions have had no obvious impact on the zone's expansion,
and LAO leaders have never taken action against the chairman
(02:17):
of the zone, a Chinese businessman named Joo Wi. Welcome
to the Big Tach Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm wanh.
Every week we take you inside some of the world's
biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons and
(02:38):
businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today on the
show Inside the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, how a
hub created for economic development, became a hive of criminal
activity and why authorities don't seem interested in stopping it.
(03:03):
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Laos has been
a notorious drug smuggling passageway for about a decade, but
beginning around twenty twenty two, in the midst of COVID,
police and diplomats in Southeast Asia took note of what
appeared to be a major new business here in this
part of Laos.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Crypto scam centers places where workers, many of them who
trafficked and held against their will, spend their time trying
to befriend people online and persuading those people, generally in
rich countries so US, Western Europe to some extent China,
to make scam investments where they then lose all their money.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
One former scam center worker that Matt spoke to was
a woman we're calling City. She's a young Indonesian who
says she was trafficked to work there.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
She had a very typical experience in that she answered
a job ad on Facebook. In her case, it was
to work doing computer graphics, which matched quite well with
her skills. She was told the job would be in Thailand,
but in fact she ended up in Llows, in a
building that was like a prison and where she was
(04:20):
forced to work against her will, scanning people in the
United States.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
They pay for everything until I arrived in Laos, but
after that everything chants. They lock us, all of us inside.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Matt says. City told him she had to surrender her
passport and she couldn't leave the building without an access card.
She was allowed to keep her phone, but her managers
would routinely go through her messages. Siddy says she was
taught to run the scams like this.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I need to have set story for middle guy in
online chatting, then I get the customer trust.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Often the initial contact is made on dating sites, so
someone who's actually in a fluorescent lit office in the
special economic zone is posing as a young single woman
who's living somewhere in the US, stringing along generally a
man who they're talking to.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I have a toolplace is a California and another one
is Virginia. Then I say like, yeah, I'm very set woman,
and then I will say I also don't have husband.
That's why I come to looking. Maybe I have a
lacking things for nit a guy in this online day thing.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And the way this works is called pig butchering, and
the metaphor it's a bit inelegant, is that you're fattening
a pig and then you eventually slaughter it. And the
fattening the pig is building trust, building a relationship with
these online marks, and gradually and without pushing too hard,
(06:02):
convincing this quote unquote customer to make investments in generally crypto,
and like all the best scams, these ones pay off.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
At first it's real probate, like one thousand, two thousand.
Then after that you put more until you put all
of your money, and then after a very big because they.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Move in for the kill, butchering the pig if you like,
and then maybe you put in your whole life savings.
You put it onto a crypto platform that is controlled
by the scam center, and that money disappears booth it's gone.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
City and several other scam center employees told Matt there
were consequences if the workers failed to get enough customers.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
They are punished severely with things like beatings or electric shocks.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
One off, China, Smaan didn't get the customer after I'm
not sure how many loans, and they watch him with
Oh way.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So you saw this man being wept.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, until the blood everywhere. They put this guy in
front of the levator for so us. This is Funny's
funey you will get if you didn't allow our rules.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
City was desperate to get out, but the place was
heavily guarded, and she says she didn't know who to trust.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
I see also one time someone tried to run out
from the building and he get the electric show. At
three am. He get the electric show. I say, why still,
this is not human So he said if you try,
if you still want to go out, they will kill you.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Scam Centers like this one city worked in are incredibly
lucrative businesses in this unique special economic zone in laos
as mad and As College Pitcha Taneka Simpipat highlighted in
their investigation. A recent report by the United States Institute
of Peace, a Congress funded research institution, estimated that the
amount stolen by scam centers in Maycon countries likely exceeds
(08:15):
forty three billion dollars a year. That total includes considerable
losses in the US and Europe, as well as China.
So who is behind this alleged criminal enterprise.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
The founder and the face of this project is a
Chinese businessman named Chiao Wi.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Totally, I am well, it's not a great thing that
the Golden Triangle has a terrible reputation.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Chiao Wei portrays himself as a kind of kindly godfather
who is bringing development to allows in a somewhat paternalistic way.
There is a lot of talk about helping the Lao
people better themselves, helping them tap the prosperity of China,
bringing them out of poverty.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
People used to say that you'd lose a kidney in
the Golden Triangle, but actually this place is peaceful.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Here, Jou Wai is speaking to several media outlets in
a YouTube video posted earlier.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
This year, because we are here to promote tourism to
boost the economy. Now, through our joint efforts, we're turning
this place into a region that is developed economically and
financially in all aspects.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
After the break, how did Jowwei come to run this place?
And if the Golden Triangles Special Economic Zone really is
a hub of criminal activity, why is he still in charge.
(10:02):
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone was the brainchild of
a Chinese businessman named chiao Wei.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
He's from the far northeast of China in halong Jiang,
which is a very cold, larshly rural province. He left
school for his teenage years, ended up working various sort
of odd jobs, and somehow in the nineties ended up
in the casino business in Macau, just next to Hong Kong.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Jaoo built a large casino business in the Asian gambling capital,
and then when the market got crowded in Macau, he
moved the operations in the mid two thousands to Southeast Asia,
to less regulated places like me and Mar and eventually Laos.
And it was in Laos, this small landlocked country sandwiched
between Thailand and Vietnam, where Joo developed close relationships with
(10:56):
decision makers in the country. In two thousand and six,
he struck up a deal with allow government to set
up this special economic zone, which he said would bring
growth and prosperity to the country.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
When this was beginning, the pitch to the local population
was more or less that this is going to be
great for you. This is going to bring a lot
of development. There are going to be jobs, and you
will benefit.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
The government entrusted thirty nine square miles and control of
the project at Jow by granting him a ninety nine
year lease that gave him de facto control over the city.
He started with building a gambling palace and from there
it's grown into what's become a small city and effectively
a fortress for Joo himself.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
He's in charge. Lao law may theoretically apply, but in
practice law enforcement regulation that's all up to the Special
Economic Zones managers, namely Johwet and his Liltuture tenants. Lao
police have not been able to enter accept with permission
(12:05):
of management. So it was almost like a little empire
within a sovereign country in which Jahwei and his colleagues
had just about complete control, and they appear to continue
to enjoy that status.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And as a special Economic zone grew and more money
poured in, it didn't take long for law enforcement agencies
in the US and Thailand to suspect that more was
going on beneath the surface.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Within a few years of Jahwe setting up this place
beginning construction, law enforcement officials in the region were getting
reports that large amounts of methamphetamine were being trafficked through
the site.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
In twenty eighteen, the US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on
what it called the Jauwei transnational criminal Organization. It said
the Special Economic Zone was a hub for the trafficking
of drugs, people, and wildlife, as well as money laundering
and bribery, and more recently, the Special Economic Zone has
(13:08):
diversified into hosting scam centers. Joo said in the past
that drugs and the trafficking of drugs and people are
prohibited in the zone, and that quote, we definitely do
not allow scamming. The Golden Triangle's Special Economic Zone management
didn't respond to Bloomberg's detailed request for comment from Joo.
(13:29):
Lao government officials also didn't respond to requests for comment
on this story. After Bloomberg sent inquiries, Lao State Media
reported that the government had ordered the removal of scam
centers in the Special Economic Zone by late August. State
media said the shutdown ordered on the scam centers came
after a meeting between Jow and high ranking officials from
(13:52):
the Lao Ministry of Public Security as well as the
governor of the Lao province where the Economic Zone is located.
But Matt says it's it's unclear how or whether such
an order will be enforced, and he says despite the
allegations of crimes from international authorities, there wasn't much law
enforcement action from Laos before this latest announcement on state media, and.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
The reason for that is simple. The Lao government is
actually an investor in the project. The Lao government, when
the special economic zone was created, took a twenty percent
stake in the project. We don't know if it's still
a twenty percent stake. There is some indication the stake
may actually have gone up. Johwet is in business with
(14:35):
the Lao government in this project.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
But the crimes alleged to be happening in the Golden
Triangle Economic Zone aren't just problems for the Lao government.
The vast majority of the alleged scam victims are from
the US, Europe and China, and in recent months, Lao authorities,
presumably at the urging of the Chinese government, have arrested
more than one thousand Chinese citizens who were allegedly working
(15:01):
inside scam operations in the economic zone. They were deported
back to their home country, and last year, according to
the US Institute of Peace, these scam operations across Southeast
Asia together stole more than three point five billion dollars
from Americans. So why hasn't the US taken further action?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Even if you are the TEA or the FBI, or
one of these American law enforcement agencies which have global reach,
at least on a good day, you are still constrained
by sovereignty.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Meaning there's only so much you can do about alleged
crime that's happening in another country, even when it's reportedly
targeting your citizens.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
The specially economic zone is in Laos. The Lao government
doesn't appear to have a problem with it.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Joo himself hasn't been charged with any crime, but he
does appear to be.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Careful as we know, he certainly is not traveling anywhere
where he could be subject to US extradition request.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And as for the young woman we're calling city, the
Indonesian worker Matt talked to, who said she was forcefully
held inside a scam center in the economic zone. She
did eventually find a way out two months after her
rival in Laos City saw her chance.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
The way she escaped in her account is that she
was taken across the river into Thailand to renew her
permission to work in Laos and took the opportunity at
that point to make a run for.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
It because understanding us, they didn't go with us. They
just sending us alone. But there they have someone, but
we didn't know who is the person who's waiting for us. There.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
When she was taken over the border into Thailand to
renew her visa, she saw a moment when it seemed
like nobody was watching and jumped into attack that got
her to the airport in chang Rai in northern Thailand.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I'm telling the taxi guy like please us helping me.
I want to go to airport. Then they follow me
until to the airport. The two guys, the big one,
they're looking for me and I hiding in a counter.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
In City's case, she made it to the airport in
chiang Rai, She says she actually ended up hiding in
a simcard shop behind the counter while she waited for
a flight that a friend had booked for her online.
And then she made it out and eventually back to Indonesia,
her home country.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
City says she was lucky she's the only one who
took off on that visa run to Thailand, but Matt
says countless other traffic labors are still trapped, forced to
work at the scam centers like the one city escaped from.
This is The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I'm wan ha.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
This episode was produced by Naomi Um Young Young, Jessica Beck,
and Thomas lou who also fact checked it. It was
mixed by Blake Maples. It was edited by Jeremy Keene
and Caitlin Kenny. There was additional reporting from Papita tanaka Simpipot,
and we'd like to give a special shout out to
Bloomberg's Originals team. Our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso, Nicole
(18:20):
Beemster Bower is our executive producer, and Sage Bouman is
Bloomberg's head of Podcasts. Please follow and review The Big
Take Asia wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps new
listeners find the show. See you next time.
Hosts And Creators
Sarah Holder
Saleha Mohsin
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