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China broadcasts mafia confessions in rare justice system exposé
Chinese state media has aired unprecedented footage of handcuffed crime bosses confessing to murders, fraud, and human trafficking-part of a high-profile campaign to deter involvement in Southeast Asia's booming scam industry and demonstrate Beijing's zero-tolerance stance.
In one clip, Chen Dawei-a member of the notorious Wei crime family-coldly recounts ordering a killing to seal a "blood oath" with a business partner. "I didn't feel much," he tells investigators when pressed about the victim's life. The exchange, broadcast nationally, marks a rare public glimpse into China's typically opaque judicial process.
From warlord allies to scam empire collapse
The Wei, Liu, Ming, and Bai clans once ruled Laukkaing, a Myanmar border town transformed from a "poverty-stricken backwater" into a neon-lit hub of casinos, brothels, and cybercrime compounds under their control. Their rise began in the early 2000s after Myanmar's military junta-led by current ruler Min Aung Hlaing-ousted a local warlord and installed Bai Suocheng, a cooperative deputy, as district chairman.
With military backing, the families consolidated power: the Weis embedded members in parliament and the army; the Lius controlled utilities and security forces. For years, profits flowed from gambling and prostitution. But by the 2020s, their focus shifted to industrial-scale online fraud, netting billions by trapping workers-many lured from China-into defrauding compatriots under threat of torture.
Violence as standard operating procedure
Survivor testimonies describe systematic brutality in the compounds: electric shocks, severed fingers, starvation in pitch-black cells. "Uncooperative" workers faced beatings until they complied or died. Chinese investigators allege the families' wealth-flaunted in lavish banquets and luxury cars-was built on this suffering.
"Supplies have stabilized, but conservation remains essential."
Freed scam compound worker, quoted in Chinese state media documentaries
Beijing's two-pronged message: Deterrence and reassurance
The propaganda blitz serves dual purposes. Domestically, it aims to quell public outrage over the scam epidemic, which has ensnared thousands of Chinese citizens-from unemployed youth to actors like Wang Xing, whose 2024 kidnapping and rescue went viral. Internationally, it counters criticism of China's role in fueling the crisis, given many scam rings are Chinese-run.
"The fact that Chinese nationals are the masterminds behind many of these operations has been deeply damaging to China's image," said Ivan Franceschini, co-author of Scam: Inside Southeast Asia's Cybercrime Compounds. State media now emphasizes arrests (57,000+ since 2023) and declining fraud reports, framing the crackdown as a restoration of "security" for Chinese citizens.
Legal reckoning and lingering fears
Courts have handed down death sentences to 16 clan members (11 Mings, 5 Bais) and lengthy prison terms to dozens more. Trials for the Weis and Lius are ongoing. Yet families of the missing remain in limbo. "My cousin vanished four or five years ago," one Weibo user wrote. "My aunt cries daily-there's no describing her grief."
The UN estimates hundreds of thousands remain trapped in global scam centers. China's campaign, analysts say, is as much about perception as justice: a warning to would-be criminals, and a bid to restore faith in the state's protective reach.
'New generation' targets and uncertain outcomes
In October 2025, China announced prosecutions against a fresh syndicate described as Laukkaing's "new generation of power"-equally violent but less entrenched. "If this case isn't solved, it's a permanent stain on your career," an investigator recalled his superior saying in a documentary. The pressure underscores Beijing's determination to eradicate the networks entirely.
Yet challenges persist. Scam operations have dispersed to Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines. And while reported cyberfraud in China has dropped, experts caution that underground adaptation-like encrypted communication-could outpace crackdowns. For now, the message is clear: kill the chicken to scare the monkey.
