HONG KONG – Widespread concerns over human trafficking stemming from cyberscam schemes in Southeast Asia have grown in China recently, after a hit Chinese film shed light on incidents in Myanmar, with the country’s now-tattered reputation likely making any return of Chinese tourists an uphill battle.
Crime action film “No More Bets,” which has topped the Chinese box office since its release in early August, offers an unprecedented peek into the intricate workings of cybercrime in Southeast Asia.
Taking inspiration from thousands of real-life cases and incorporating realistic portrayals of the industry, the film tells the story of a Chinese pair, enticed by well-paid overseas job offers, who unwittingly fall victim to fraud schemes that see them essentially forced to toil in online scam mills while under intense surveillance.
The film’s promotional tagline — “One more viewer, one less fraud victim” — has highlighted how the movie’s creators hope to spotlight the trend.
Myanmar and Cambodia have made frequent headlines in recent years over rampant, online fraud-related human-trafficking schemes. And on Tuesday, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that the trend was not going away, with at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and around 100,000 people in Cambodia possibly held in situations where they are forced by criminal gangs to conduct the online scams.
Other countries in the region, including Laos, the Philippines and Thailand, have also been cited as key countries for human trafficking transit or as destinations themselves for at least tens of thousands of people.
The aftershocks of the movie have reverberated in China’s outbound tourism industry, with travelers less willing to visit these countries.
In 2019, more than 2.3 million out of the 6.6 million foreign visitors to Cambodia, or 35%, were Chinese, making it Cambodia’s largest tourism market.
China had been one of Myanmar’s largest sources of tourists before and even during the pandemic and the country’s ongoing civil war.
Several tourism industry insiders told Chinese media that the cyberscams in Myanmar had severely damaged the country’s reputation, taking a toll on tourist confidence, with the number of inquiries and planned visits to Myanmar plummeting despite China’s lifting of a ban on group tours to the country on Aug. 10.
A recent poll on Weibo, China’s X-like platform, showed that 48,000 respondents out of 54,000 would shun traveling to Myanmar, while around 3,000 said they would be hesitant about such a visit due to safety concerns.
In another poll asking Chinese internet users whether they would travel to Southeast Asia, over 85% of respondents said they wouldn’t consider traveling there for the same reason.
In a bid to lure back Chinese tourists following the January lifting of a group tour ban, Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism launched a special program in early August to provide accreditation to tourism business operators whose service quality meets Chinese standards. With the “China Ready” initiative, Cambodia hopes to bring in at least 800,000 Chinese visitors by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, Myanmar signed a memorandum with China’s Jilin province in late July to establish each other as key tourist destinations, as well as enhance collaboration to advance mutual trade and economic relations.
Nevertheless, such China-focused moves have received strong backlash and opposition from Chinese internet users, with videos published on social media explaining these initiatives bombarded with negative comments by people expressing safety concerns and questioning the timing of the partnerships.
“If I visit the place, I don’t think I can leave there physically intact,” one user commented under a video about the Cambodian initiative.
In China, online fraud has become a rampant problem in recent years. In 2022, Chinese authorities uncovered around 464,000 cases of telecommunications and online fraud, arresting 351 gang leaders and key members of criminal groups, according to state-run media.
Chinese citizens have been constantly reminded by the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar since last year not to follow online job postings with high salaries or to partake in unlawful activity.
In a sign of growing multinational cooperation on the issue, China teamed up with public security officials from Thailand, Laos and Myanmar in mid-August to jointly crack down on human trafficking-related online fraud and gambling crimes in Myanmar, while establishing a coordination center in the Thai city of Chiang Mai to bolster collaborative efforts on the issue.
Source : The Japan Times
