Myanmar’s army says it wants to eradicate scam compounds. Is it really doing that?

The late afternoon calm on the Moi River that separates Thailand from Myanmar was shattered by three loud explosions. Ethnic Karen families bathe and play in the water, running terrified towards the riverbank, while a plume of dark smoke rises from the trees behind them.

The conflict sparked by the Myanmar army’s coup nearly five years ago has returned to the border.

But this time the fighting is linked to fraud complexes, run by Chinese crime gangs, that have spread in Karen State in the past two years.

Myanmar junta spokesman General Zaw Min Tun said: “We are working to completely eradicate online fraudulent activities at their roots.”

But there are good reasons to doubt the military’s claims.

Now, for the first time, Myanmar’s long civil war and its fraud crisis are intertwined.

After losing control of large areas of the country to rebel groups, the junta this year launched a counter-offensive, reinforced by new recruits. And new equipment such as drones provided by Russia and China. In Karen State, it was able to repel the forces of its main opponent, the Karen National Union, which it has been fighting for eight decades and which was one of the most vocal opponents of the coup.

Suddenly, at the end of October, the military stormed KK Park, one of Karen State’s largest and most notorious scam complexes, expelling thousands of foreigners who were running online fraud schemes there, some voluntarily, others after being duped or trafficked and forced to work. The army posted videos of soldiers confiscating thousands of mobile phones, computers, and satellite dishes from Elon Musk’s Starlink service. They started demolishing buildings with explosives.

This was an amazing change of heart. For years, Myanmar’s military rulers have turned a blind eye to the multi-billion-dollar fraud business that is rapidly expanding along its border with Thailand. Local warlords allied with the military were the main protectors and business partners of the Chinese fraud lords, and they became extremely wealthy. Some of this money went into the coffers of the ruling generals. The junta has tried to blame the Karen National Union for the fraud, but there is no basis for this; Unlike other Karen armed groups, the Karen National Union has kept its distance from such actions.

Victims of romance scams have lost billions of dollars globallyPeople are being scammed in get-rich-quick cryptocurrency schemes, and elderly people are investing their retirement money in fake funds, many of which originate from these positions. The dark side of the industry is felt in Southeast Asia, where online fraud schemes are linked to human trafficking, money laundering and widespread human rights violations.

There is increasing international interest, and coordination between law enforcement agencies, to try to combat this scourge. The United States has established a multi-agency anti-fraud task force. China, one of the Myanmar military junta’s closest allies, has been putting pressure on it for years to do more Thousands of Chinese citizens have fallen victim to online fraud They are trafficked and held for ransom in compounds.

Judging by reports in Myanmar’s state media exposing the military’s actions in KK Park, it appears that this pressure has finally worked.

However, its demolitions at KK Park, while spectacular, do not appear to have destroyed the scam infrastructure there. Military operations have focused only on this complex, and there are dozens of other complexes. She had already raided the Shui Koku Rogue City, but had only entered a few buildings, and had only destroyed one building so far.

Thousands of foreign scam workers left KK Park and Shwe Kokko and made their way across the Moei River into Thailand. Many others have spread to various locations, although transportation is difficult and expensive. It now costs 5,000 yuan to reserve a car, the equivalent of about $700 (£520). The main fraud kingpins are presumed to have moved their business to more remote and less visible parts of Myanmar further south on the border.

But in a town called Minlitpan, a group of rogue workers were trapped last month in two compounds, known as Shunda and Baoli. It has been built right on the banks of the river in the last two years. They are located in an area controlled by DKBA forces, a militia allied with the junta.

On November 21, according to a Karen National Union spokesman, its fighters were engaged in battle with the army when they found themselves being shot from behind by the Kenya Democratic Army in Minletban. They turned around and fired DKBA, but then unexpectedly found themselves in control of two fraud centers, and the thousands of foreigners who worked there.

The Karen National Union announced that it wanted to set an example by inviting journalists and international law enforcement agencies to see the seized compounds. It published photos and documents to expose how the fraud works, rather than destroying evidence as the army did at KK Park.

It sent hundreds of workers across the river to Thailand, but about 1,000, most of them Chinese citizens, refused to leave, perhaps because they feared prosecution if they returned to China.

But except for a handful of journalists, international interest in her award never materialized, and junta forces began bombing the area in an attempt to retake the residential compounds – that’s what we heard from the Thai side. Many of the remaining scam workers have now fled elsewhere in Myanmar, although a few hundred remain camped under flimsy tarpaulins on the riverbank, along with hundreds of local residents, all hoping to avoid an exchange of artillery shelling.

All this drama comes down to one thing: The junta’s much-criticized plan to hold elections later this month. The civil war sparked by her coup is ravaging the country. The military regime is hated by most Myanmar people and is treated as an international pariah.

The generals search for a way out of the way that will gain them a semblance of legitimacy, and win over some of their many opponents. They have chosen to hold elections, but the main opposition groups cannot or do not want to participate, and much of the country is in too much unrest to vote at all.

Therefore, the army has made reclaiming as much territory from the rebels before the elections a priority. It is also trying to clean up its image through its high-profile operations against fraudulent vehicles. This is especially important for its strongest international ally, China.

As we were at the border, we saw clouds of dust rising over KK Park as more buildings were demolished. Some of the largest structures there were twisted and bent, their windows blown out. The walls of others were demolished by excavators.

But in the distance many buildings were still intact. Some had white squares on their roofs that were almost certainly Starlink satellite dishes, suggesting some scams may still be going on there.

Drive an hour and a half south in Thailand, and you’ll come to a quiet border crossing called Wa Le – Wawlay in Burma. The river here is so narrow that it is nothing more than a river; You walk into Myanmar through an iron gate and across a small blue wooden bridge, where you are greeted by flags of the Karen National Union.

But while the area around Wawalay is fiercely contested, with the Karen National Union seizing several military bases earlier this year, the crossing is under the control of the Kakao Democratic Army.

On the Thai side, large signs warn people of the dangers of being tempted to work in scam centers. However, a few meters away, a gated compound, topped with barbed wire, has been built right next to the river. This is known as Hengsheng 3; We could hear generators running and security guards talking on the other side of the wall.

There were barred windows, and Starlink dishes on the roof. Monitoring groups have identified this and several other new complexes around Waulai. Many of the gangs moved south to Bayazonzo, near the Three Temples Pass border crossing.

Whatever the future of well-known scam complexes such as KK Park and Shwe Kokko – and it is too early to judge whether they will actually be closed – the scam business is still thriving in Myanmar.