Web slave

Corporal punishment, including caning, will be used to punish offenders with six to 24 strokes. Fraud accounts for 60 per cent of all reported crimes in the city-state. Penalties have also been increased for those who distribute obscene material, particularly if minors are involved.

A court in Wenzhou has convicted 39 members of the Ming family, originally from Shan State in northern Myanmar, for fraud and drug trafficking, among others, activities that generated estimated proceeds of over 10 billion yuan. Among those sentenced to death are the son and granddaughter of the family patriarch, Ming Xuechang, who died under controversial circumstances during his arrest. This is part of Beijing’s broader crackdown on crime syndicates operating in Myanmar.

According to a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, criminal gangs linked to Southeast Asia's online scam centres are expanding their activities into Africa, Latin America, and other vulnerable regions thanks to technological developments. The business – described as a “cancer” by experts – generates almost US$ 40 billion a year in profits. Online platforms that are only accessible privately and gambling sites are at the heart of this illegal ecosystem.

Southeast Asia expert Bridget Welsh analyses Kuala Lumpur's first steps at the helm of the bloc: the leadership will be successful if it puts ‘the interests of those who live in the region above those of its leaders’. ‘Calling for “inclusive elections” in Myanmar contradicts the real situation on the ground’.

Cambodia’s best-known independent journalist still active despite ongoing repression has been arrested. His posts on social media on environmental damage caused by stone quarries were probably the pretext used by the authorities to detain him on charges of causing “social disorder". Dara was also actively reporting on online scams by transnational crime syndicates employing people in slave-like conditions. He joins about a hundred political prisoners already in detention in Cambodia.

Despite Myanmar’s conflict, many Sri Lankans still travel to the former Burma in search of work but end up victims in trafficking networks. At least 40 have been freed recently, but dozens more are still captive. The authorities urge Sri Lankans, often vainly, to look for work at agencies registered with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE).

A medical facility in Pasay with Chinese and Vietnamese doctors and nurses has been shut down. According to investigators, victims of modern-day slavery forced to work in online scams who fall ill or suffer torture are brought to these facilities, which are also used by fugitives seeking changes to their physical appearance to escape police.

A new report notes that returns from cyber scams generate an estimated at US$ 12.5 billion in a country whose GDP is below US$ 30 billion. This is keeping foreign investors away, weakening economic development. While the authorities have started to crack down, they can only go so far since many of those involved are Chinese nationals, protected by their country’s economic involvement in Cambodia.

Cambodian police detained hundreds of local and foreign nationals over the weekend. Despite a crackdown more than a year ago, online scams continue to flourish in Southeast Asia. Observers note that the recent repatriation of Chinese nationals from northern Myanmar has forced operators to move.

According to the ethnic armies that launched the offensive on the border region, the business is worth US$ 14 billion annually, controlled by four Chinese clans together with Myanmar’s military. China recently asked the ruling junta to shut down call centres where about 100,000 people are allegedly held in conditions of modern slavery.

Police agencies in the two countries have been working together against telecom scams since September. Some 63 alleged "financiers" and ringleaders top the list of people wanted in connection with Chinese nationals cheated out of lots of money. Fighting between Myanmar’s ruling junta and rebel forces is fuelling the problem.

According to Save the Children, “three out of every ten children interviewed in the study have experienced some sort of online violence”, ranging from cyberbullying to child trafficking and child pornography. The country has no legislation in the matter.