Taiwan Victim of Southeast Asian Scam Center Released

TaiwanPlus News

Though Taiwan has helped over 1,500 citizens get out of scam centers run by Southeast Asia-based criminals in the past three years, new tactics are making the problem of scam farms tough to tackle.

Transcript

00:00The bruises and cuts on Hsieh Yu-pung's arms are still visible.

00:04He's safe now with Taiwanese immigration officers on either side.

00:09But things could well have turned out differently

00:11if the right people hadn't intervened on his behalf.

00:14Hsieh is one of what the UN estimates are hundreds of thousands

00:18of victims of Southeast Asia-based human traffickers.

00:22These criminal groups post fake ads promising high-paying jobs

00:26in countries like Thailand.

00:28Those who respond are kidnapped on arrival

00:31and trafficked to large detention centres,

00:33many forced to work scamming others back home.

00:36Conditions are said to be brutal.

00:52Hsieh had been offered a job as a dance instructor in Thailand.

00:56But instead, he was taken across the border to Myanmar

00:59where he disappeared for three weeks.

01:02He and his father both say it was only the involvement

01:05of NGO negotiators that secured his release.

01:08In such cases, ransoms aren't unheard of too.

01:13Scams like the one that trapped Hsieh have sprung up

01:15in a range of Southeast Asian countries in recent years,

01:18sometimes as an attempt by criminals to recoup their losses

01:21on failed gambling ventures in the region.

01:24Many of the criminals and their victims are Chinese.

01:28High-profile cases include Chinese actor Wang Xing

01:31who's released a video of himself

01:33in a Chinese-language video.

01:35The video shows a Chinese-language video

01:37of a Chinese-language Chinese actor

01:39Other cases include Chinese actor Wang Xing

01:42whose release from captivity last week

01:44made international headlines.

01:46But Taiwanese victims also make up a significant portion

01:49of those lured away with the promise of good jobs or easy money.

01:53The Foreign Ministry says it's helped rescue

01:55over 1,500 Taiwanese people from scam centers

01:58in the past three years alone.

02:01And anti-scam NGOs say the actual number of victims

02:04who've made it back to Taiwan may be even higher.

02:09We think there has been a gap.

02:11This is mainly because some of the victims

02:14may be ashamed to call the police

02:17or say they don't trust the rescue effort.

02:23NGOs say it can be hard to get support

02:26from the governments of the countries involved,

02:28especially one of the more favored countries these days,

02:31Myanmar, which is in the midst of a civil war.

02:34The Thai government will say,

02:37The Burmese government will say,

02:42Despite occasional crackdowns,

02:44the situation is murky and evolving.

02:47Some analysts see scammers broadening the range of victims

02:50and embracing new tools like deepfakes to con victims.

02:54Police at Taiwan's airports hold signs

02:56warning jobseekers headed to Southeast Asia to beware.

02:59But scammers are well-entrenched in the region,

03:01with the UN estimating they rake in

03:03billions of U.S. dollars a year.

03:05The risk to Taiwanese people isn't going away.

03:08Chris Ma and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.

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