Satellite Images Reveal How Suspected Scam Compounds Appear Out of Nowhere
Satellite Images Reveal How Suspected Scam Compounds Appear Out of Nowhere
卫星图像揭示疑似诈骗园区如何“凭空出现”
More than two dozen suspected new scam compounds in war-torn Myanmar have been built or expanded significantly in the past six months, according to satellite images and analysis of the area reviewed by WIRED. The apparent growth of the criminal operations indicates how a purported crackdown on the sites last year did little to stop the highly lucrative scamming industry.
根据《连线》（WIRED）审阅的卫星图像及区域分析，在饱受战火蹂躏的缅甸，过去六个月内有超过二十个疑似新的诈骗园区被新建或大幅扩建。这些犯罪活动的明显增长表明，去年针对这些地点的所谓“打击行动”，在遏制这一高利润诈骗产业方面几乎毫无成效。
At least 25 alleged scamming sites have appeared in the Myawaddy region of Myanmar, close to the country’s border with Thailand, since around the start of the year, according to an analysis of satellite images by the International Justice Mission, an anti-human-trafficking nonprofit. The images show how land has been flattened and swaths of forest razed, to be ultimately replaced by dozens of buildings and the infrastructure required to run scam operations at scale.
据反人口贩运非营利组织“国际正义使命团”（International Justice Mission, IJM）对卫星图像的分析，自今年年初以来，缅甸妙瓦底（Myawaddy）地区——靠近缅甸与泰国边境——至少出现了25个涉嫌诈骗的据点。图像显示，土地被平整，大片森林被夷为平地，最终被数十栋建筑以及大规模开展诈骗活动所需的基础设施所取代。
“Some were skeptical that the crackdowns last year were genuine, and this imagery shows that was correct,” says Eric Heintz, a global analyst at the IJM, who focuses on the impact of scam compounds and analyzed the suspected sites. “While that crackdown did disrupt operations, the scale of these new developments appears to be more than enough to absorb what was destroyed last year.”
“当时就有人怀疑去年的打击行动是否真实，而这些图像证明了怀疑是正确的，”IJM全球分析师埃里克·海因茨（Eric Heintz）表示。他专注于研究诈骗园区的影响，并对这些疑似地点进行了分析。“虽然那次打击确实干扰了运营，但这些新开发项目的规模似乎足以弥补去年被摧毁的损失。”
Over the past decade, scam compounds have appeared widely across the Southeast Asian countries of Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. These sites, which are often operated by Chinese organized crime groups, are responsible for vast portions of global online scamming—and are involved in stealing billions of dollars through complex cryptocurrency and romance scams targeting victims in the US and around the world.
在过去十年中，诈骗园区在缅甸、柬埔寨和老挝等东南亚国家广泛出现。这些据点通常由中国有组织犯罪集团运营，是全球大部分在线诈骗活动的源头，并涉及通过针对美国及全球受害者的复杂加密货币和“杀猪盘”（婚恋诈骗）窃取数十亿美元。
While overseen by criminal bosses, much of the day-to-day scamming—involving cold contacting thousands of potential victims of social media, earning their trust over time, and cashing out stolen money—is undertaken by victims of human trafficking. People from more than 60 countries have been lured to the region by false promises of work and then forced to scam people 24/7. Many have their passports taken, receive beatings if they refuse to work, and have little chance of escape. Hundreds of thousands of trafficking victims have been tricked into the compounds in recent years.
虽然由犯罪头目监管，但大部分日常诈骗工作——包括在社交媒体上冷启动联系数千名潜在受害者、通过长期交流获取信任，以及将窃取的资金变现——都是由人口贩运的受害者完成的。来自60多个国家的人们被虚假的工作承诺诱骗到该地区，随后被迫24小时不间断地进行诈骗。许多人的护照被没收，拒绝工作会遭到殴打，且几乎没有逃脱的机会。近年来，数十万名被贩运的受害者被诱骗进入这些园区。
The industrial-scale scam operations have turned into a global crisis, with a raft of international sanctions being issued against those allegedly involved or linked to the operations in Myanmar and Cambodia last year. Starting around October, ahead of elections in the country, Myanmar’s military junta raided some known compounds, making a show of exploding buildings and steamrolling phones and computers used in the scam operations.
这种工业规模的诈骗活动已演变成一场全球性危机。去年，针对缅甸和柬埔寨境内涉嫌参与或与这些行动有关联的人员，国际社会发布了一系列制裁措施。从去年10月左右开始，在缅甸大选前夕，缅甸军政府突袭了一些已知的园区，并以炸毁建筑、用压路机碾碎诈骗所用的手机和电脑等方式进行“作秀”。
However, those eye-catching efforts appear to have done little to stop the vast scamming enterprises from operating and conning new victims. Mechelle B. Moore, the CEO of the anti-trafficking nonprofit Global Alms Incorporated, who is based in Thailand near the border with Myanmar, says her group has identified at least a dozen new sites, and some groups have repopulated previously raided areas. “There’s some that have stayed empty, but there’s a lot of construction that was happening toward the end of last year that no one saw,” Moore says.
然而，这些引人注目的举措似乎并未能阻止庞大的诈骗企业继续运营并欺骗新的受害者。常驻泰国靠近缅甸边境的反人口贩运非营利组织“Global Alms Incorporated”首席执行官米歇尔·B·摩尔（Mechelle B. Moore）表示，她的团队已经确定了至少十几个新地点，且一些犯罪集团已经重新占领了此前被突袭过的区域。“有些地方确实空置了，但去年年底发生的大量建设活动并没有被外界察觉，”摩尔说。
Some of the new and expanding compounds identified by Heintz, which were first noted by the Associated Press in June, appear to have been in the early stages around the time of the crackdown, but other work started around January, the researcher says. “The pace of construction is significant—some of these are going from empty fields to operational compounds in a couple months,” Heintz says. (The Embassy of Myanmar in London did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.)
海因茨指出，他所识别出的一些新建和扩建园区（美联社在6月份首次报道）似乎在打击行动期间就处于早期阶段，但其他工程是在1月份左右开始的。“建设速度非常惊人——其中一些在短短几个月内就从空地变成了运营中的园区，”海因茨说。（缅甸驻伦敦大使馆未立即回应《连线》的置评请求。）
Satellite images seen by WIRED show how buildings have been created within clearings, with around 24 buildings appearing at one site between January and April. Other satellite images show how large numbers of trees have been cleared to make space for the buildings, with roads and what may be houses being built around the sites. Clusters of large buildings, which are likely to be accommodation for trafficking victims, have appeared on many of the sites.
《连线》查阅的卫星图像显示，在林间空地上建筑是如何拔地而起的，其中一个地点在1月至4月间出现了约24栋建筑。其他卫星图像显示，为了给建筑腾出空间，大量树木被砍伐，园区周围修建了道路，并可能建有住宅。许多地点都出现了成群的大型建筑，这些很可能是被贩运受害者的住所。
“The layout of these compounds match what we’ve seen in the 30-plus other larger compounds in the area,” Heintz says, adding that while the IJM has not spoken to people who have escaped from the sites, they are aware of people inside them. He explains that many of the newly identified sites are in remote locations and would likely not have any other use in the region. “That, combined with the tech data showing a variety of foreign internet service providers associated with the locations, make me think that these locations are scam-related,” he says.
“这些园区的布局与我们在该地区看到的其他30多个大型园区相吻合，”海因茨说。他补充道，虽然IJM尚未与从这些地点逃出的人员交谈，但他们确信里面有人。他解释说，许多新识别出的地点位于偏远地区，在该地区很可能没有其他用途。“这一点，再加上技术数据显示这些地点与多家外国互联网服务提供商有关联，让我认为这些地点与诈骗有关。”
The researcher has previously used data from the mobile advertising industry to analyze what devices and internet service providers are being used at known scam compounds in Myanmar—including Elon Musk’s satellite internet system Starlink, which is operated by SpaceX. A WIRED investigation last year found at least eight compounds in the Myawaddy region appearing to use Starlink devices, including having antennas positioned on their rooftops. US law enforcement officials subsequently ordered the seizure of Starlink terminals used at some compounds.
该研究员此前曾利用移动广告行业的数据，分析缅甸已知诈骗园区所使用的设备和互联网服务提供商——其中包括埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）旗下SpaceX运营的卫星互联网系统“星链”（Starlink）。《连线》去年的调查发现，妙瓦底地区至少有8个园区似乎在使用星链设备，包括在屋顶安装天线。随后，美国执法官员下令查封了在一些园区使用的星链终端。
“We continue to see Starlink being used, with at least half of these new locations using their terminals—we know exactly where these compounds are, and in some cases know the IPs used by Starlink connections from these compounds, and it remains unclear why the company can’t shut these off,” Heintz says. Starlink did not immediately respond to a request for comment but has previously said it has cut connections to 2,500 devices linked to scam compounds in Myanmar.
“我们仍然看到星链被使用，这些新地点中至少有一半在使用他们的终端——我们确切地知道这些园区在哪里，在某些情况下甚至知道这些园区通过星链连接所使用的IP地址，但目前尚不清楚为什么该公司无法切断这些连接，”海因茨说。星链未立即回应置评请求，但此前曾表示已切断了与缅甸诈骗园区相关的2500台设备的连接。
Moore, of Global Alms, says that despite the crackdowns last year, little has been done to target the criminal entities behind the operations. She says that when a compound is raided, those behind it move people to other compounds. “We have drone foot…”
Global Alms的摩尔表示，尽管去年进行了打击，但针对这些行动背后的犯罪实体的打击力度依然不足。她说，当一个园区遭到突袭时，幕后黑手会将人员转移到其他园区。“我们有无人机拍摄的画面……”