Intl Criminal Organization: Young Japanese People Were among Those Targeted

Editorial

15:16 JST, February 21, 2025

An international criminal organization based in Myanmar repeatedly lured young people and others from various countries to commit fraud. Japanese high school students were also forced to participate in crimes.

Each country must work together to urgently uncover the entire picture of the crime and destroy the organization.

It is believed that the organization has established dozens of bases near the Myanmar-Thailand border, lured young people and others from all over the world with deceitful words and forced them to make phone calls to their home countries and elsewhere to commit special fraud.

As many as about 10,000 young people and others from 25 countries and regions, including Asia and Africa, are said to have been forced to participate in the scams. Some of them were reportedly held captive in buildings at the bases and threatened with stun guns or beaten.

The crimes were uncovered when the young people and others were taken into protective custody by the Thai police. They included Japanese high school students, one of whom reportedly left Japan after being urged to run away from home by a man he got to know through an online game.

This is an extremely serious and shocking situation in which abduction and forced labor by a criminal organization are suspected.

There also are reports of at least 20 Japanese nationals at the bases, in addition to the high school students. The Japanese police, in cooperation with the Thai police, need to urgently gather information and protect the Japanese nationals.

Myanmar has been in a state of civil war since a military coup in 2021. Taking advantage of this chaos, international criminal organizations, such as those from China, have expanded their influence. It can be said that the situation being beyond the control of the military has led to an expansion of criminal organizations.

The Thai government has taken measures to stop electricity from being transmitted to areas around the bases in Myanmar so the criminal organization cannot engage in its activities. Every possible effort should be made to destroy the organization by whatever means possible.

The organization has lured young people and others through social media and other means by saying such things as “there are jobs overseas” and it “would take care of your food, clothing and housing, so why don’t you come?”

In Japan, “dark part-time jobs,” in which people are recruited via social media to commit crimes, have become a problem in society. It is necessary to investigate whether these incidents related to dark part-time jobs are linked to the international criminal organization.

The fact that even high school students were involved in these crimes is significant. There is no easy way to make money. People should be aware that if they casually jump at such an offer, it could lead to an irreversible situation.

Recently, there has been a spate of “romance scams,” in which people are lured into romantic relationships via social media and then swindled out of cash. It was announced that 11 Nigerian nationals were arrested this month on suspicion of committing such fraud.

Japanese people are being targeted by international criminal organizations. Each individual needs to acquire the ability to scrutinize information on the internet.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb. 21, 2025)