Vietnamese man escapes from Golden Triangle scam gang, spends days on Mekong River

After being sold to a phone scam operation in the global drug hub at the intersection of China, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, Lang Van Thanh of the central Nghe An Province risked his life to escape, drifting on the Mekong River on a makeshift raft and begging for food along the way as he made his way back home.

According to the police in Nghe An’s Quy Chau District, Thanh, 34, was one of the victims of a transnational human trafficking operation led by Vi Van Nhap, 41, another Nghe An native, and Pham Thi Tuyet Chinh, 36, from the northern province of Nam Dinh.

Vi Van Nhap (L) and Pham Thi Tuyet Chinh when being arrested. Photo by police

Speaking to investigators after escaping from the Golden Triangle, Thanh described the experience as “terrifying,” but said he knew he had to escape. Staying would have meant indefinite confinement with an uncertain future.

He said that in early 2024 Nhap persuaded him to go abroad to work with the promise of a “high-paying, easy job.”

His accommodation and meals would be fully covered by the “big companies” offering the job, who would also pay a monthly salary of VND20-30 million (US$800-1,190) and bonuses for good performance, he was told.

Believing Nhap, he agreed to cross the border illegally, not realizing it was a scam.

Joining him and Thanh on the trip eight months ago were several other Vietnamese aged 35-40, who were also struggling financially and hoping to make a better life.

The case files show that in the first leg of the journey Thanh and the others were picked up by strangers and driven to a mountainous province in Myanmar to work for them.

The group seized all their personal documents and they were forced to take part in phone scams daily to defraud people and steal their money online.

By the time they realized they had been deceived, it was too late.

After two months Thanh and several other Vietnamese victims tried to escape by running into a nearby forest, but were unfortunately discovered by guards. They were then blindfolded and transported to Bokeo Province in Laos.

In this zone, which has hundreds of high-rise buildings, Thanh and the others were separated and handed over to various companies where they were confined. The victims were forced to make scam phone calls every day, and those who failed to meet targets were threatened and beaten.

Thanh said he was terrified and repeatedly demanded to go home, but the manager told him he would have to pay VND150 million to buy his freedom.

Knowing that his family could not raise such an amount, Thanh did not even contact them for help and resigned himself to staying.

Knowing what he wanted, he was placed on a “blacklist” and closely monitored by guards to prevent him from trying to escape.

He said he and others on the blacklist were sent back to Myanmar.

On May 1 Thanh and several other Vietnamese were being transported from Laos to Myanmar by car according to a prearranged schedule.

When they stopped for lunch at a small roadside restaurant, Thanh noticed a river behind the venue.

He pretended to go to the restroom and took advantage of a moment of inattention to jump into the water.

The guards, who were 30 meters away, immediately chased after him but did not dare approach the fast-flowing waters. They followed him by car but eventually gave up.

Thanh said the thought of dying occurred to him when he jumped into the river.

After swimming a few hundred meters and nearing exhaustion, he grabbed onto a floating Styrofoam box, using it as a makeshift float to move toward a shore.

“I did not dare get on to the highway after reaching land. I walked along small paths along the Mekong River, heading downstream.”

For seven days he wandered, searching for a way home.

Whenever he was hungry, he would approach local houses or seek out Vietnamese residents in Laos to ask for food and water.

When deep waters blocked his path, Thanh used discarded Styrofoam as makeshift rafts to paddle across the river.

On May 8, on reaching Luang Prabang in Laos, he boarded a bus and requested to be taken to the Vietnamese border. The driver demanded VND25 million, and Thanh borrowed a phone to call his sister, asking her to transfer the money to the bus company.

After returning home Thanh reported Nhap to the police.

Thanh told investigators: “I no longer chase after high-paying, easy jobs. I’d rather stay home and pick bamboo shoots. If I want to make more money, I’ll go to the south to work for factories.”

Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Chi Hieu, deputy chief of the Quy Chau District police, said Nhap had been under surveillance for four months after he was found to lure people and sell them to gangs in the Golden Triangle. By the time Thanh’s complaint was received, most of the “blank spaces” in the case had been filled, and many suspicions had been confirmed by then.

Buildings in Bokeo Province of Laos where criminal rings operate. Photo by police

According to investigators, the human trafficking ring was led by Chinh, 36, a woman who lives in China, and Nhap received a share of the profits from her after each successful trafficking operation.

Chinh recruited many people to work for her in various provinces across Vietnam. When the bosses in the Golden Triangle needed people for their scam operations, Chinh would contact her network in Vietnam to find them.

Chinh has reportedly been elusive. She once attempted to enter Vietnam to discuss the modus operandi with her subordinates but turned back at the border as she was worried about being detected.

She continued to direct operations from outside the country.

On Aug. 8, learning that Chinh had just returned to Vietnam via the Lao Cai International Border Gate, police dispatched a team to arrest her and seized a number documents related to human trafficking.

At the same time they also arrested Nhap in Nghe An.

Both Nhap and Chinh face charges of “human trafficking.”

The Nghe An Province police have arrested and questioned 25 individuals related to the crime this year.

Investigators have collaborated with other agencies to verify and rescue 30 victims from the Golden Triangle and bring them back to Vietnam.

On Aug. 2 police in Ha Tinh Province near Nghe An raided a building with over 20 floors in Laos following a joint operation with Lao authorities and arrested 155 Vietnamese men and women suspected of running or joining a ring to trick people in need of jobs to send them to Laos, where they were forced to work for online scammers.

The Golden Triangle encompasses parts of northern Thailand, western Laos and eastern Myanmar, and is mountainous and remote, which has historically made it difficult for governments to exert control.

It is notorious for its historical and ongoing involvement in the production and trafficking of opium and heroin.

*The victim’s name has been changed.