back to article China and friends claim success in push to stamp out tech support cyber-scam slave camps

A group established by six Asian nations to fight criminal cyber-scam slave camps that infest the region claims it’s made good progress dismantling the operations. The Lancang-Mekong law enforcement cooperation (LMLEC) was convened last year and saw Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China vow to stamp out the …

  1. PhilipN Silver badge

    "in debt to their employer from day one"

    Where have I heard this before? Ah yes - apart from that Sixteen Tons ditty - it is how the music business has operated for decades.

    That massive advance you just blew on fast cars, fast women and dr*gs? When you gonna pay it back, kid?

    1. DS999 Silver badge

      Re: "in debt to their employer from day one"

      They don't make you pay it back, except with money earned from the sale of your music by the label. They don't touch your earnings in concerts, or go to court to seize that inheritance from your grandma. So it isn't a debt in the sense of most debts, it is more of an accounting entry that says "you have to earn back this much before you get a red cent in royalties for your music.

      They also don't prevent you leaving. You can quit the music business at any time, but they own your ass as far as selling records (or today selling streams) of your music not just for the current album but for however many future albums you may have signed up for. You can quit, and that "debt" never has to be repaid, doesn't go on credit reports or anything like that.

      Yes it is abusive and they have the game rigged so unless you are a huge star you'll never see a cent in royalties, but comparing it to the people in this article is ridiculous. It not the same thing in any way.

      1. PhilipN Silver badge

        Re: "in debt to their employer from day one"

        So having to produce three more albums under the gun is not the same. OK.

        1. DS999 Silver badge

          Re: "in debt to their employer from day one"

          There is no gun. You can always quit the music business and do something else, and they have no hold on you. That's totally different than the people being talked about in this article, who are essentially slaves or perhaps more precisely lifetime indentured servants. They can't decide to quit, and there probably is someone with an actual gun who will shoot them if they try.

          1. PhilipN Silver badge

            Re: "in debt to their employer from day one"

            Talking like every record company executive.

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Strange numbers

    "the group’s efforts during 2024 saw the arrest of 70,000 suspects, and over 160 people freed."

    Remarkable that only 160 persons were freed. I first thought they switched the numbers but such numbers are in all reports, even from earlier years.

    It looks like all the people in the camps are treated as suspects, not as victims of a scam themselves.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Strange numbers

      The people in the camps have to be the suspects: The national authorities won't want to point the finger at district officials who may be directly involved, corrupt law enforcement, local criminal gang leaders, or government minsters. The only exception will be if anyone in those "mostly exempt" categories has fallen foul of somebody higher up the food chain.

    2. Andy The Hat Silver badge

      Re: Strange numbers

      Those nasty 70k people who forced officials and other "leaders" into enslaving them ... China is freeing the 170 from the drudgery of their daily slave-driving. The other 70k have no papers so must be foreign spies who can be imprisoned in chinese work camps making iphones whilst investigations continue.

    3. Claude Yeller

      Re: Strange numbers

      Thinking about this, I do not see this as very devious.

      When busting such a "labor camp", the local authorities have to consider everyone complicit in crimes. Only those that are physically freed from imprisonment can definitely be said to be freed. Sorting that out is a nuisance, especially given the connections to local politics and law enforcement.

      When I look at the reports, the foreign "suspects" are simply extradited to their home countries where they will be dealt with by their local authorities. This way, eg, China, gets its people back, guilty or not, and the country of the camp can ignore the case as they see fit.

      From what I know about these parts of Asia, there seems to be limited concern for the fate and well being of (poor) foreigners.

  4. Casca Silver badge

    "Beijing hates these camps and the crooks who run them". Thats a bit much. They do fuck all about them as long as no one is putting up a stink on the home turf like what happened this time.

    https://youtu.be/35Dkn_fgClc?si=ZO2nCkfrofN2ySNV

    1. Wang Cores

      Seriously, the US harassing allies in Europe and threatening Panama instead of coordinating with Mexico, Africa and SEA to build links with local partners, establish a rule of law setup, and bulwark against PRC influence in these areas is going to go down as one huge opportunity cost failure.

      1. Baird34

        You are making the assumption that the US cares about these things.

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