'Fraudulent employee' in Myanmar chooses $1,400 salary over fleeing

(CLO) After the KK Park "scam den" in Myanmar was raided, many people did not flee but instead found jobs in other scam dens with salaries up to 1,400 USD/month.

Such scams are springing up across Southeast Asia, stealing billions of dollars each year from victims lured by romantic or cryptocurrency investments. While many are coerced, many are willing to participate because of the high salaries.

The late October raid that rocked KK Park – a notorious “scam den” – sent more than 1,500 people fleeing to Thailand, while many others stayed behind to seek new opportunities.

A Chinese scammer said that on October 23 alone, several hundred people left KK Park and flocked to his apartment complex 3 km away, lured by salaries of up to 1,400 USD/month. “Some will meet inhumane bosses, others will meet good companies, it depends on luck,” he said.

KK Park seen from across the Moei River from the cornfields on the Thai side. Photo: CC/Wiki

Jason Tower, an expert at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said most of the scammers at KK Park were simply “recruited by other gangs.” “For them, it’s a job,” he said.

According to a United Nations report, East Asia and Southeast Asia alone will see losses of $37 billion in 2023 due to fraud centers, and the global figure “could be much larger.”

Myanmar’s troubled borderlands have become fertile ground for such activity. Last month, the Myanmar military announced it had seized some 200 buildings in KK Park and uncovered more than 2,000 suspected scammers.

The operation still resulted in the flight of 1,500 people from 28 nationalities to Thailand, including about 500 Indians and 200 Filipinos. Thai authorities say they are having trouble determining who is a trafficking victim and who is a criminal.

Experts estimate that 20,000 people worked at KK Park, most of them Chinese nationals. Those who fled to Thailand accounted for less than 10%. Meanwhile, some of the scammers who stayed were “bought and sold” between gangs, at prices as high as $70,000 each.

Source: https://congluan.vn/nhan-vien-lua-dao-o-myanmar-chon-luong-1-400-usd-thay-vi-bo-tron-10316588.html