Myanmar’s military crack down on scam centre with 350 arrests, but bosses had already fled
The military and the pro-government BGF militia raided the Shwe Kokko complex. According to local sources, however, the BGF moved out its bosses before the raid, and thousands of workers fled after being warned. Washington and Beijing have launched parallel initiatives against the activities that finance this criminal activity, but many analysts remain sceptical; without targeting the networks linking the military, militias, and criminal groups, raids risk being merely window dressing.
Yangon (AsiaNews) – Myanmar’s military announced that it raided a scam centre and arrested nearly 350 people. The Karen State Border Guard Force (BGF), a regime-allied militia, participated in the operation at the notorious Shwe Kokko centre, on the Myanmar-Thailand border.
The country’s military junta has long been accused of encouraging the proliferation of scam centres, which have increasingly expanded across Southeast Asia since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The situation in Myanmar has worsened since the 2021 coup and the start of the civil war.
The military, however, is coming under increasing pressure from various quarters, which is why it is dismantling several facilities. Still, they are often accused of merely engaging in window-dressing and having no intention of truly solving the problem.
According to the Thai newspaper The Reporters, the people arrested yesterday are mostly Chinese nationals. BGF, army, and police forces also seized many computers and 10,000 mobile phones.
According to other sources, on Monday, the day before the operation, the BGF announced it would dismantle the scam operations in Shwe Kokk, located in Myawaddy, Karen State. Thousands of Chinese nationals fled the city to avoid capture. The BGF also reportedly evacuated the scam centres’ bosses.
BGF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Naing Maung Zaw, confirmed this version to The Irrawaddy, a newspaper close to the anti-coup resistance forces.
This joint military action came six days after the United States announced the creation of the Scam Center Strike Force, a special team designed to target criminal networks operating not only in Myanmar but also across Southeast Asia, which defraud Americans of tens of thousands of dollars annually online.
The day after the US announcement, Myanmar’s Army Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services General Min Aung Hlaing visited Hpa-an, Karen State, and publicly promised to eliminate scam centres, citing the KK Park centre and the Myawaddy compound.
According to some experts, Min Aung Hlaing is also making these efforts ahead of the legislative elections set for December and January, which many international organisations have already labelled as a sham because they are taking place while the civil war is still ongoing in several parts of the country.
The BGF under Commander Saw Chit Thu had already raided Shwe Kokko in February, arresting and expelling thousands of foreigners, again mostly Chinese.
According to some investigations, the militia (targeted by US sanctions in May of this year) not only provides security to the compounds, but also shares with the junta the billions of kyats in profits derived from real estate development and online scams conducted throughout the Myawaddy area.
Some studies claim that the BGF transfers approximately 50 per cent of its annual profits, equivalent to approximately US$ 192 million from the Shwe Kokko centre alone, to the regime.
Local observers and analysts remain sceptical about the BFG. “The BGF has always played a double game: it invited scammers and now it promises to clean everything up. But people have not forgotten years of exploitation and violence under their protection," an ethnic Karen leader explained to AsiaNews, requesting anonymity.
The recent attack on several buildings in KK Park (a notorious online scam hub) has also been described by several experts as staged in response to growing international pressure rather than a genuine attempt to dismantle criminal structures.
Behind these incidents are personal stories of extreme brutality. Many of the scam centre workers are young people trafficked with the promise of employment and then locked up in compounds, forced to work under the threat of torture.
One survivor, Seng Aung, said: “I was trafficked across the border and trapped inside the scam compound. They threatened my life if I tried to escape. Every day, I was forced to call and cheat innocent people. I felt completely helpless. The guards were always watching; there was no way out. But I took my chance and escaped to Thailand.”
NGOs and UN agencies report that tens of thousands of people from China, Southeast Asia, and even Africa are held in centres in Myawaddy, Shwe Kokko, KK Park, as well as similar compounds in Cambodia and Laos, often victims of torture, beatings, sexual violence, and deprivation of food and medical care.
As Thailand-based human rights activist Benedict Hkun pointed out, “These scam centers are a symptom of the deeper rot in state and military structures. The DKBA, Tatmadaw and BGF are not just bystanders; they are profiteers and enablers. Without addressing the military’s shadow networks, these scams will persist.”
The Tatmadaw refers to Myanmar’s armed forces, while the DKBA is the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, another pro-regime militia implicated in various criminal activities.
According to the US Treasury Department, the DKBA uses illicit profits from scams to finance activities related to the ongoing civil conflict.
Resistance militias too are often implicated in shady trafficking to finance themselves, particularly in the drug and arms trade.
The US move parallels those undertaken by China, which recently created a regional alliance involving Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam to develop closer cooperation in the Mekong region.
Thousands of trafficked people are from China, but often, the bosses behind the criminal networks are also Chinese who have other citizenships.
According to some analysts, Beijing also wants to protect the economic interests of these bosses, focusing on the small fry, often leaving the real perpetrators of scam centres untouched.
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