How Chinese mafia run a scam factory – DW – 01/30/2024
www.dw.com
In KK Park, those who refuse to scam face torture, starvation and even murder. DW investigates one of Asia's most brutal scam compounds.

Aaron and his fellows were trafficked into a prison-like compound called KK Park. Here, thousands of people are forced into criminality — to scam people in the US, Europe and China. The UN estimates that more than 100,000 people are being forced to work in scam centers in Myanmar.

DW’s investigative unit met with several survivors of the compound. They described widespread surveillance, torture and even weekly murders.

KK Park’s scamming operations trace back to a complex network of businesses and associations used by criminals to legitimize their crimes and launder millions in defrauded assets — and that network continues to expand from Southeast Asia to Africa, Europe and North America.

  • Optional@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    9 months ago

    These organizations are closely linked to Wan Kuok Koi, alias Broken Tooth. He launched the World Hongmen History and Culture Association in 2018, an organization that has since been sanctioned by the US for its involvement in organized crime.

    But Wan’s Hongmen organization also promotes Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a trillion-dollar infrastructure project meant to integrate China further into the global economy. It is also known as the New Silk Road.

    “Wan Kuok Koi also has a quote that he uses fairly regularly: he says he used to fight for the cartels, and now he fights for the Chinese Communist Party,” Jason Tower, a leading expert on organized crime at the US Institute for Peace, told DW.

    Goddamn

    • taanegl@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      These are the guys who compete against the Russian mafia for property in Europe. It’s insane, but they both have great organizers and accountants. No doubt either part is waiting for some form of economic collapse in Europe, to get their foot in the door.

      That’s why when late stage capitalism hits hard, gang violence between locals and Votniks will escalate. No lie, the Polish, the Lithuanians, the Romanians, all play ball with the same organizations, and quite frankly if my country goes to shit, we might see a return of “the old ways”.

      A lot of crab cages will be littered with human bones again as the torpedo’s return, is what I’m saying, and people of Europe will once again partake in digested human meat.

      Poverty and criminality is a 1:1, ya’ll. Don’t forget that.