This may be the most chilling documentary I’ve read in recent years.
This may be the most heavy text I’ve read in recent years.
This document was not written by a horror novelist, nor by a non-fiction journalist. If it were, I could laugh it off as a gimmick to attract traffic, no matter how exaggerated or stimulating the writing is.
What makes this document suffocating is that it has no literary quality: most of its content is simple, crude, and contains typos, and a lot of the content is repetitive, only detailing where this person went, what they did, what the flight number was, and where they disappeared, like a ledger. Reading it to the end makes one want to scroll down —— only when you read the family’s plea at the end will you suddenly remember: in this cell, there is a living life.
I once wanted to compare this document to ‘The Gulag Archipelago’. But after reading for an hour, until this seemingly endless table formed a huge wall in front of me, I realized: this is not literature, this is a silent Wailing Wall. There is nothing here but bricks and cries.
This document records a mutual aid document of 1500 missing persons, victims of telecom fraud in Myanmar. The full name is “Star Home Plan” National Relatives and Friends Deceived Myanmar Overview Collection (Northern Myanmar + Eastern Myanmar)“
Starting on January 3rd, like others, I saw the news that actor Wang Xing was deceived and taken to Myawaddy, and I was also happy that his fate finally took a turn for the better. Around January 8th, I saw that some family members of Wang Xing, who were deceived and taken to Myanmar, made a self-help document, which also made it to the trending topics. I reposted this on Weibo, hoping to let more people see it.
When I reposted it, there were probably nearly 100 records in it, but I didn’t look at it carefully. Because I felt that I couldn’t help much except for reposting.
Yesterday, when I was considering what to write today, I thought of this mutual aid document. I felt that this document was a good example of an online interactive document. And maybe it would become a topic for the postgraduate entrance examination like the previous Zhengzhou flood self-help document. So I opened this document and wanted to see what was written.
What I didn’t expect was that this document had been suspended from editing and could not be exported or downloaded (maybe not readable). But what I didn’t expect even more was that, in just a day or two, the number of victims recorded in this document had swelled to 1568, of which 1168 were trapped in northern Myanmar and 400 in eastern Myanmar.
People like Wang Xing, 1568 people!
Regardless of literary or journalistic qualities, this means that it has gone beyond the boundaries of the story and entered the field of statistics. It reflects not only the blood and tears of individual families, but also the outline of a dark world.
This dark world is exactly the same as the world we live in, maybe the only difference between it and our world is the distance of an airport arrival gate.
I spent three and a half hours reading the entire table of 1568 people, and I only felt dizzy. I can’t say clearly what I can share in this push today. I just want to make a record, to record that this document did exist, and some information about the dark world it describes.
01. Who are the victims?
Since 2020, Southeast Asia, especially the border areas of northern Myanmar and Thailand, has seen the rampant development of telecom fraud and gray industries, and the related human trafficking and illegal detention have also intensified.
For a long time, due to its association with telecom fraud, domestic reports on the victims have mostly been of two types: one is the professional swindler who knowingly engages in illegal activities for the sake of making big money; the other is the ‘fool’ who lacks awareness of fraud prevention and self-protection.
However, from the interactive table, the situation of the victims is more complex.
From the basic data, in general, there are more men, who may be between 16-40 years old, and the proportion of those over 28 years old is higher. Among those over 28 years old, the proportion of those over 35 years old is significantly higher than those under 35 years old.
From the motivation for going abroad, the main way they were deceived was to work abroad, and there were cases of tourism, love, and meeting netizens, but the proportion was not high.
Combining these two, it seems to portray the image of a middle-aged person who is frustrated. Indeed, although there is not much content describing the victims’ family situations, these mostly mention debt, career failure, and inability to find a job. This frustration is the reason why many people take risks.
Family difficulties lead to believing in high-paying job rumors
Work is not going well and being deceived by intermediaries
Business failure and owing foreign debts lead to taking risks
However, what is even more distressing than this is the young people under the age of 20. From the description, they often have poor family economic conditions, and many are single-parent families. Many people’s motivation for going abroad is simply to supplement their families or because their family members are sick. Their stubbornness and kindness at this time, due to their lack of social experience, provide opportunities for the swindlers.
Children hope to subsidize their families by working but are deceived
Hope to reduce the burden on the family and are deceived
Being deceived while working during winter vacation
Being deceived due to family difficulties
Being deceived for a mother’s surgery
Recently, the black hands of the fraud park have gradually begun to target independent travelers. The main method is to intercept vehicles, especially on the tourist routes around Chiang Mai.
Being intercepted on the way to Chiang Mai
Fake resort scams
Being misled by scammers on Xiaohongshu
Many people choose to travel with friends, thinking that they can take care of each other, but in fact, even if there are many people, it is difficult to fight against well-prepared criminal groups, and they may instead fall into the trap together.
Being deceived together with a companion
In addition to tourism and working, making appointments under the guise of online dating is also an important means. And the meeting place is likely to be in China.
Being deceived after meeting in Xishuangbanna
Working, traveling, online dating… all kinds of inducements, behind which actually reflects a fact: if there is anything common among the victims, it is not so much a lack of social experience, but rather a lack of social status. Because of the lack, so the desire, because of not believing in the world around them, so they fantasize about the distant tomorrow. However, tomorrow is an abyss from which there is no return.
02. Why are the victims deceived?
How is a person deceived? When seeing others being deceived, onlookers easily find all sorts of faults in the victims in order to maintain their own psychological order, and fantasize that if it were themselves, they would be able to cope calmly and retreat safely. However, after reading the document, I asked myself, if I were in the victims’ environment, I might not be able to do better.
The swindlers’ most basic rhetoric is indeed high-paying inducements, that is, the so-called ‘carrying goods’, carrying debts, and purchasing on behalf of others.
Being deceived to Baise under the name of ‘carrying goods’ and then going abroad
Being deceived to Don Mueang Airport in Thailand under the name of ‘carrying goods’
Being lured to Chiang Rai by ‘carrying debts’
Imported medicine scam
However, high salaries alone cannot dispel the victims’ doubts about going abroad to work. However, the most important trick here comes: almost half of the cases involve introductions from ‘acquaintances’.
They may be the victims’ colleagues.
Friends of colleagues lure
Colleagues lure with high salaries
Colleagues lure with high salaries
They may be fellow villagers.
Childhood friends lure
Fellow villagers lure
They may be comrades-in-arms.
Comrades-in-arms falsely claim to open a cleaning company
The boss is deceived by a retired comrade-in-arms for tourism
They may be classmates.
Classmates lure to Thailand to earn money
Classmates lure to Guangxi
They may be other various ‘friends’.
Good friends lure with the name of bringing goods
Being lured by ‘friends’
They may be relatives.
Relatives lure
If a rational person does not believe that a friend will suddenly give you such an important job opportunity, and chooses to look for a job normally on a recruitment platform and earn money steadily, then there will naturally be rhetoric aimed at him.
Being lured under the name of boarding a ship
Being lured abroad under the name of promotion
Company leaders may collude with swindlers.
The boss lures employees
For those with a certain economic strength, the excuse will become discussing overseas development or business.
Being lured to Thailand for logistics cooperation
Being lured to Kunming under the name of coal business
The rhetoric targeting the victims is constantly updated, and even ‘patience’ of more than a year can be used to lure people into the trap.
03. Where did the victims lose contact?
Like Wang Xing, a large number of victims were taken away after getting on the vehicles that picked them up at Bangkok airport.
No news after sending the license plate
Being taken directly to Mae Sot after getting off the plane
Unable to contact after being taken away by a taxi
However, a surprising fact in the document is that the locations where many victims lost contact are actually in China. Especially in the surrounding counties and cities of Yunnan and Myanmar, a large number of people were deceived or forcibly taken to the northern Myanmar park. Even Kunming and Xishuangbanna have the black hands of fraud groups.
Being abducted at Kunming High-speed Railway Station
Being abducted in Xishuangbanna
Being forced to leave the country after being taken on a car in Xishuangbanna
Being abducted to Wa State from Jinghong
From the specific methods, after the victims get on the car, the snakehead may implement the kidnapping on the car or in the hotel.
Using firearms to force the victims to submit
Holding the victims hostage on the car
Holding the victims hostage under the name of taking a watch
Using anesthetics to make the victims unconscious.
Adding anesthetics to the water
Knocking out and drugging
Using anesthetics to kidnap nine students at once
04. What will happen to the victims after being kidnapped to the park?
As can be seen from the document, after arriving at the park, the new victims must complete their performance, working more than fifteen hours a day. If they violate the rules, they will be subjected to endless beatings and physical punishment.
Beating the victims until they lose their memory
Beating and electric shock
A small beating every three days, a big beating every ten days
Breaking an arm.
Arm broken
Cutting off a leg.
Cut off the leg
In recent years, because anti-fraud propaganda has become increasingly difficult, the methods of fraud can no longer make money. In this case, the park has started a new way of making money: kidnapping for ransom. Victims are allowed to contact their families, which is actually demanding a ransom. The price of a person’s life is 300,000 yuan.
Selling rural houses to raise money for ransom
300,000 yuan ransom demanded after being kidnapped for a week
Forcibly resold on the way to Chiang Mai
If the ransom cannot be paid, the victims will be resold multiple times.
No money at home, resold four times, completely out of contact
And those who pay the ransom?
After giving the money, they will be asked for more money
05. “My Child”
I thought about this chapter for a long time, and I don’t know what to write. Just post the pictures.
“My Child”
“Save my only child”
“Save our broken family”
“Should I find a building to jump off and end it all?”
“My son doesn’t see his parents’ tears, the elderly mother is bedridden, hoping for her grandson and son to return soon”
06. Some others
Let’s stop here.
Just like this interactive document is my most heavy one, this article is also the most difficult one I’ve written. Including this conclusion. The further I go, the more I want to post pictures.
The difficulty lies in the fact that if you look closely at the things in each cell, they are suffocating. This is not only from their tragedy, but also from the fact that these people’s lives are so ordinary, so common. Yes, some people’s greed is one of the causes, but there are also many children who want to reduce the burden on their families, young people who earn money for their parents’ surgery fees, middle-aged people who are over 35 and looking for jobs everywhere, fathers who want to earn money for their children’s milk powder, and ordinary people who are ready to work hard to change their fate. Don’t forget that before Wang Xing was abducted, although people were already wary of northern Myanmar, Thailand has always been a popular tourist destination, and at least no one would have thought that darkness had already arrived the moment they walked out of the airport. One wrong step, and there is no turning back. Can I do better? It’s hard to say.
The difficulty lies in the fact that if you think too much about the emotions in each cell, it’s despairing. I originally planned to write a few cases, but there’s no way to think deeply. For example, the longitude and latitude to the second level were given to the family half a year ago. It’s hard to imagine how it was done in the park. What was he thinking when he sent this longitude and latitude? Will the people in the park see this longitude and latitude? How will they retaliate against him? There is also the girl who was tied in the car and sent a text message to her sister, “There are two cars killing people nearby”, and has been out of contact ever since. There is also the brother who saw his younger brother being beaten in a pigsty in Myanmar on his phone, and only recognized his face. The parents whose elderly family members couldn’t pay the ransom for the surgery and the child was resold four times and finally had no news, what were they thinking? Where are the other victims? What can they do?
The difficulty also lies in the fact that the 1,568 victims in this document may still be waiting for help in the park. Therefore, in order not to affect the rescue of relevant departments, and to make this document survive longer, so that more people can see it, I have deleted many questions. I also don’t want to talk about many controversies. Everything, maybe only when they come back.
But I really hope that someone can download the documents of these 1,568 people. Can keep this silent wall of tears.
Because the attitude towards these things — memory, suffering, victims —
Is also the height our society can reach.
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