A Taiwanese man was sentenced to six years and four months in prison for luring people to Myanmar with lucrative job offers and forcing them to carry out online scams, reports Focus Taiwan citing a recent Taipei District Court ruling. The man is believed to be part of a human trafficking syndicate that also includes other people who are also being investigated by prosecutors, the court said in its verdict. The alleged human trafficking ring was luring debt-ridden people abroad with false job advertisements posted on Instagram by Hsiao, promising easy work and high pay.

In one instance last year in March, a victim was led to believe that he would be working in a customer service job for an online gaming enterprise in Thailand. The victim went to Thailand, however he was then smuggled into Myanmar to work on a casino compound, carrying out online scams, the court said. If he failed to achieve a certain level of performance, he was subjected to physical punishment that included forcing him to run and do jump squares. The victim and others on the compound had no freedom of movement, as they were essentially illegal workers in Myanmar, and there were armed troops patrolling the area. Hsiao, meanwhile, was earning commissions from his fraudulent activities and was able to move around freely.

During the trial in the Taipei District Court, Hsiao was found guilty of using fraudulent means to lure people to other countries for his own profit. He was also found guilty of actions related to human trafficking, including recruiting and confining a person by force or intimidation and forcing him to work without commensurate pay.