The Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO) is urging people to be alert when in Southeast Asia after a Taiwanese tourist was drugged and kidnapped by cyberscam criminals.
A Taiwanese in his 20s was seriously injured after falling out of a building while fleeing his kidnappers, GASO said on Friday.
In a video recording for GASO, the man said he was traveling alone in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and went to a bar, but could not remember what happened next, adding that someone must have spiked his drink.
Photo courtesy of Global Anti-Scam Organization
He said that when he woke up, he was in a car heading to Kokang region in Myanmar’s Shan State, which is across the border from Chiang Mai.
The men escorting him wore military uniforms and carried firearms, he said.
He said he was taken to a guarded compound in Kokang, which borders China’s Yunnan Province, and was held captive by cyberscam operators.
For one month he was trained in investment fraud, learning to talk like a businessman to entice people with promises of making money, he said.
The dozens of captives got a chance to escape when their supervisor went out one day. They broke open a ventilation duct, then tied bedsheets together to form a rope and threw it out of a window on the seventh floor, he said.
The man said he went first, but could not hold on and fell about five stories, but his fellow captives fled the compound with him and took him for treatment.
He had broken both legs and fractured vertebrae in several places, among other injuries.
He said he bribed the security guard at the hospital managed to telephone his mother in Taiwan, who then contacted the GASO.
Local media reported on his case, and some Taiwanese businesspeople in Myanmar helped him.
The man said he had to pay NT$300,000 (US$9,435) in total to get home, and his medical expenses came to NT$200,000.
He said when people are kidnapped by cybercrime gangs, they have to work as instructed or be sold for NT$300,000 to NT$500,000 to other gangs, which might demand a ransom for them, or for organ harvesting.
“I was not beaten up, because I cooperated with them and did what I was told,” he said. “Do not go to Thailand alone, you must go with friends.”
GASO and international authorities have reported that Phnom Penh, and Kokang and Myawaddy in Myanmar are among the main centers for cyberscams, which are mainly run by Chinese gangs.
A GASO spokeman surnamed Chen (陳) said cyberscam gangs have moved their operations from Cambodia and Myawaddy, to Kokang, and adjacent regions on northern Thailand and Myanmar, where they are “a law unto themselves.”
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,