Straight in front of me was an archway with the words “China View” and an illustration of the Great Wall of China. And on the other side of the river in Myanmar was Shwe Kokko , a den of transnational organized crime, drugs, fraud, money laundering, and pornography. But one business has come to dominate this town and many others along the border: online scams, known as “pig butchering” in Chinese, where victims are fattened up by flattery and the promise of money or sex—before their pockets are emptied.
This summer, I stood at the Thailand-Myanmar border, looking across the Moei River, at a new city in Myanmar recently constructed on land that just a few years ago was nothing but paddy fields, jungle, and tiny rural villages.
This summer, I stood at the Thailand-Myanmar border, looking across the Moei River, at a new city in Myanmar recently constructed on land that just a few years ago was nothing but paddy fields, jungle, and tiny rural villages.
Straight in front of me was an archway with the words “China View” and an illustration of the Great Wall of China. And on the other side of the river in Myanmar was Shwe Kokko, a den of transnational organized crime, drugs, fraud, money laundering, and pornography.
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