Telecom fraud in Myanmar refers to the industrialized running of telephone and online fraud from large compounds in the country's border regions. The main concentrations are in the Kokang area of northern Shan State, which borders China, and in Myawaddy Township of Kayin (Karen) State, which faces Thailand across the Moei River. Since 2023, China and Myanmar have carried out joint operations that led to the dismantling of four major criminal gangs in Myanmar's Kokang region. Chinese authorities describe these networks as a serious threat to public security in China, citing significant financial losses and multiple deaths.
Method and business model
The fraud typically targets people abroad. Operators usually gain a person's confidence with romantic ploys and then lure them into bogus investment schemes. Victims are often contacted through social media, dating platforms, or messaging apps, and the scripts are run by call-center style teams working in shifts. Fake investment platforms, cryptocurrency-linked deposits, and impersonation of officials have also been reported as components of these schemes.
Compounds are typically walled sites with dormitories, offices, and security staff. Their operators depend on reliable electricity, fuel, and telecommunications. The Myanmar government reported seizing satellite terminals along with large numbers of devices from these sites, including 2,893 computers, 21,750 mobile phones, 101 Starlink satellite communications devices, 21 internet routers at Shwe Kokko alone.
Historical development
The sector expanded in the years after the elected government was overthrown. The military seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in 2021, and in the aftermath the scam centers mushroomed, with many relocating to Myawaddy after being displaced by the anti-regime Operation 1027 in northern Shan State in 2023.
Much of the Myawaddy growth is tied to Shwe Kokko, a development on the Moei River north of Myawaddy. The Yatai New City Project resulted from an agreement signed in July 2017 between the Karen Border Guard Force (Karen BGF) and Hong Kong–registered Yatai International Holdings Group. The zone was originally billed as a "smart industrial city", the zone quickly established itself as a hotbed of illegal online gambling and scam operations. In 2020 the National League for Democracy government launched an investigation into the Yatai development, halting construction. However, the Karen BGF reportedly struck a deal with the military weeks before the coup to take the lead in military operations in the area, and construction then resumed.
Armed patrons and political protection
The BGF has roots in the Buddhist-led breakaway movement from the Karen National Union. The Karen BGF derives from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which was established in 1995 by Buddhist soldiers who broke away from the KNU and reached a ceasefire with Myanmar's military regime. The group was integrated into the military in 2010 and later split from it. On 19 February 2024, Saw Chit Thu dissolved the Karen BGF and reformed it into the Karen National Army (KNA).
The group's links to the compounds have been a central point of investigation. In Myawaddy Township, the Karen BGF plays a central role, both controlling cyber scam developments, purchasing and distributing fuel and electricity, and in human trafficking and smuggling across the Thai border. In August 2022, the Thai police arrested She Zhijiang, the kingpin of the Shwe Kokko project. The United States later took action against the group. In September 2025, Treasury expanded its actions against the network and described Yatai New City at Shwe Kokko as a prominent scam-center complex created by She Zhijiang and Saw Chit Thu.
Analysts describe a durable alignment of interests. This rests, in turn, on a convergence of interests between the Karen BGF, which controls the area, and the Myanmar military. The military's public campaigns against the industry have been contested for this reason, as discussed below.
Principal sites
- KK Park: A large compound near Myawaddy. After the raids of October 2025, the military government said it had found over 250 buildings as well as over 2,000 workers including 98 security personnel in the compound.
- Shwe Kokko: Also known as Yatai New City, located north of Myawaddy. Shwe Kokko is the destination of many Asian human trafficking victims, according to a Wikipedia summary of reporting on the site.
- Other sites: Researchers have listed compounds such as Shwe Kokko, KK Park, Tai Chang and Huanya as parts of a wider network tied to several armed actors.
Workforce and trafficking
Scam compounds recruit large numbers of foreign workers, many of them trafficked. Locals estimate that tens of thousands of foreign nationals are now engaged in scam operations in Myawaddy. Workers are often recruited through fake job offers. Some foreigners, from African nations and elsewhere, have reported being tricked into working at the centers and being blocked from leaving them. INTERPOL reported that by March 2025, victims from 66 countries had been trafficked into online scam centers. In September 2022, over 300 Indian nationals were reported to be held hostage in Shwe Kokko.
The trafficking dimension has drawn attention from the United Nations. Online scam centres fuelling human trafficking worldwide, warns UN agency, according to reporting on the agency's warnings.
Crackdowns since 2025
Pressure on the industry increased through regional measures. In June 2023, Thai authorities announced that they had stopped power supply to KK Park and Shwe Kokko. Within Myanmar, the military government later announced a campaign. Myanmar's military leadership, under growing international pressure, vowed to wipe out the industrial-scale cyberscam centers that have taken root in the country.
Major operations followed in late 2025. Government officials said by Dec. 13, 413 buildings in KK Park had been "demolished" and the remaining 222 would be cleared as well. A Shwe Kokko operation began on Nov. 18 and resulted in the arrest of 1,746 foreigners in six days, according to a report in Myanma Alinn and other state-run newspapers. State media later reported that a total of 12,586 foreigners have been detained since the end of January and 9,978 of them were deported to their home countries through Thailand.
Foreign governments also acted. The US Justice Department said on Nov. 12 that the strike force's Burma Team had already taken action, deploying Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to Thailand to combat scam compounds in Myanmar.
Persistence and displacement
Critics argue that the crackdowns have moved the industry rather than ended it. Residents of Myawaddy reported that the Chinese-run scam operations have spread beyond the sealed compounds to rented houses in Myawaddy town, operating openly with generators and solar panels. A satellite review by C4ADS found that 14 of 21 known scam compounds in Myawaddy Township, including KK Park, had shown construction or expansion since January. Critics charge that the masterminds of the scam operations continue to operate in other locations.
Regional displacement is not new. In 2018 and 2019, the Cambodian government banned online casino gambling, forcing Chinese investors and crime syndicates to exit. Operators have repeatedly moved between jurisdictions when pressure has risen.
China's prosecutions and cooperation
China has pursued prosecutions of the networks' leaders and members, many of whom are repatriated from Myanmar. In a joint China-Myanmar-Thailand operation to dismantle gambling and fraud hubs in Myawaddy, Chinese police forces escorted more than 1,500 criminal suspects back to China. In early 2025, China, Myanmar and Thailand established a ministerial-level coordination mechanism for jointly combating telecommunications and online fraud crimes.
According to China's Supreme People's Court, by the end of 2025, Chinese courts had concluded first-instance trials of more than 27,000 cases related to telecom fraud operations in northern Myanmar, with more than 41,000 repatriated suspects sentenced. The Ming and Bai groups were a major focus. The Ming and Bai groups have completed all judicial proceedings, with 39 individuals receiving sentences of life imprisonment or heavier penalties, including 16 sentenced to death. In the Bai case, illegal activities involved more than 29 billion yuan in funds, and the group's crimes resulted in the deaths of six Chinese citizens and injuries to several others.
The most recent verdicts came in October 2026. China sentenced three leading members of a criminal gang led by the Wei family to death. Unlike other telecom fraud groups in northern Myanmar that relied on private armed groups, the Wei family operated through officially recognized, regular border forces, giving it exceptional power. Three others were sentenced to life imprisonment, while another 55 received prison terms ranging from three years and three months to 24 years.
Scale and economic significance
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has estimated the scale of the industry. Hundreds of industrial-scale scam centers based primarily in Southeast Asia generate just under $40 billion in annual profits. The workforce, the trafficking, and the financial flows have made these compounds a cybercrime problem, an organized-crime problem, and a human-rights problem simultaneously. More than 5,300 people were still held in Myanmar scam centres, according to a rights group.
Controversies and assessment
Assessments of the crackdowns differ. Official statements present the operations as proof of enforcement, while some local residents and experts have argued otherwise. Regarding the raid on KK Park, locals and international experts said the regime's alleged crackdown at the Myawaddy scam hub was coordinated with the BGF to deflect criticism ahead of the ASEAN Summit. Observers have also questioned the lasting effect of the demolitions. They raided and bombed the compound, but questions remain about the long-term impact.
Access to the sites is limited, which constrains verification. A satellite-based analysis of Shwe Kokko found that the site is not formally recognised as a labour camp by the government, but the infrastructure and proximity to potential informal border crossings strongly suggests the capacity to detain and control people against their will. Independent investigation of detention conditions, the status of trafficked workers, and the fate of the leaders remains difficult in the conflict-affected border areas.
References
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- Telecom fraud in northern Myanmar: A systemic cross-border crime - CGTNnews.cgtn.com
- 1,000+ foreigners detained as Myanmar state TV broadcasts army crackdown on 'scam centres'gulfnews.com
- Myanmar state television broadcasts army crackdown on scam centersyahoo.com
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- Myanmar Witness Scam Compounds Mapexperience.arcgis.com
- Who powered the expansion of cyber scams in Myawaddy?justiceformyanmar.org
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- Saw Chit Thuen.wikipedia.org
- KAREN STATE’S CYBER-SCAM EMPIRE: The Evidence Now Crosses Armed-Group Linespowermentor.org
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- Shwe Kokkoen.wikipedia.org
- Scam Centers ‘Flooding Myawaddy Town’ After Myanmar Junta Crackdownirrawaddy.com
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- KK Park: One of Southeast Asia’s Largest Scam Centershdff.org
- Myanmar has declared a 'zero tolerance' policy for cyberscams, but the fraud goes onpbs.org
- myanmar cyberscam scam compoundpbs.org
- Scam Workers Flee as BGF Vows ‘Final War’ on Shwe Kokko Scam Hubirrawaddy.com
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- China sentences 3 from Myanmar telecom fraud ring to death - CGTNnews.cgtn.com
- Ringleaders of northern Myanmar telecom fraud group sentenced to deathbastillepost.com
- Myanmar's military says it detained foreigners in raid on major 'online scam hub'gulfnews.com
- From Northern Myanmar to the world: Global cooperation tightens the net against telecom fraud - BLiTZweeklyblitz.net