On August 12, 2024, authorities in northern Laos, in a collaborative effort with Chinese authorities, ordered every scam call center in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone to cease operations by August 25, 2024. This included nearly 400 call centers that were used to facilitate a series of crypto investment scams.
Authorities have, so far, conducted at least nine raids that resulted in the arrests and deportations of 1,389 scammers, including:
- 1,211 Chinese
- 275 Lao
- 231 Burmese
- 145 Vietnamese
- 16 Malaysians
- 13 Ethiopians
- Additional individuals from India
, Indonesia 
and the Philippines 
.
Much of these scam call centers were founded by the Chinese-born businessman Zhao Wei (pictured), who was sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department in 2018 on charges of drug, human and wildlife trafficking, money laundering and bribery through his Kings Roman Casino.
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/chinese-arrested-alleged-online-scamming-07052024154614.html