🇲🇲
MYANMAR
#1 GI-TOC (8.08)
FRAUD TYPES
Pig butchering compounds, forced labor, crypto scams
KEY FACTS
120,000+ forced scam workers. Armed militia-protected compounds. $43.8B combined annual revenue w/ Cambodia + Laos.
REPORT FRAUD IN MYANMAR1▸
No agency for Myanmar in our directory yet.
See all countries we cover ▸
Search the Report Fraud directory.
BORN HERE2▸
2 people in our case files were born in Myanmar. Tap to open the report.
GROUPS ESTABLISHED HERE1▸
1 group in our case files was established in Myanmar. Tap to open the report.
OPERATED HERE4▸
Physically based or working in Myanmar — lived, ran an office, met victims or was stationed here, per the record. Hacking a target here does not count.
Laukkai, Kokang, Myanmar
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
2011–2016Head of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone; the family's armed control of the enclave, per the Shenzhen court, let scam compounds run on its land.SOURCE: Wikipedia; Global Times (court, as reported)
2015–2023Compounds run telecom and investment fraud and illegal casinos aimed at China; the court puts the funds involved at more than ¥29 billion.SOURCE: Global Times (court, as reported)
Laukkai, Kokang, Myanmar
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
2015–2023Builds compounds in Laukkai, Shiyuanzi and Chinshwehaw and sells financiers armed protection to run telecom fraud and gambling from them, per the Wenzhou court; more than ¥10 billion involved; 14 Chinese citizens die.SOURCE: CNN; SCMP (court, as reported)
Nov 2023Chinese wanted notices; patriarch Ming Xuechang dies as police move in; the rest are handed over.SOURCE: CNN
Shwe Kokko, Myanmar
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
Shwe Kokko, Myawaddy, Myanmar
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
2017–Partners with She Zhijiang's Yatai on Shwe Kokko / Yatai New City; his Border Guard Force, later the Karen National Army, holds the border strip where the compounds stand.SOURCE: Wikipedia; US Treasury
5 May 2025OFAC designates him, his two sons and the KNA for providing security and land to scam compounds and facilitating trafficking (finding, not a charge).SOURCE: US Treasury
OUR CASES BY CATEGORY▸
Share of the 4 cases tied to Myanmar (born or operated here)
FRAUD METHODS TIED HERE4▸
From the Global Fraud Encyclopedia and the cases above. Tap a method for its page.
#1 Pig Butchering (Romance-Investment Scam)Encyclopedia · used in our cases ▸#7 Money LaunderingEncyclopedia · used in our cases ▸#33 Money Mule Recruitmentused in our cases ▸#43 Lottery / Sweepstakes Scamused in our cases ▸KNOWN FOR▸
THE PICTURE▸
Myanmar's lawless border zones, especially Myawaddy (Shwe Kokko, KK Park) in Karen State and the Kokang region of northern Shan State, host industrial scam compounds run largely by Chinese-led syndicates under the protection of local militias; the UN human rights office estimated in August 2023 that at least 120,000 people were being held there and forced to run online scams (OHCHR, 2023). The militias include the Karen National Army of Saw Chit Thu, which the US Treasury sanctioned in May 2025 for facilitating cyber scams (US Treasury, 2025). China has led enforcement: 16 members of the Kokang Ming family were sentenced to death in September 2025 and 11 were executed in January 2026, and Bai-family leaders were sentenced to death in November 2025 (CNN, 2025-2026). The junta raided KK Park in October 2025 and said it had demolished scam buildings, but reporting showed new construction nearby, suggesting the networks moved rather than shut down (AP, Dec 2025; Center for Information Resilience, 2025).
TOP FRAUDSTERS FROM HERE2▸
Ming Guoping CONVICTED
Not published in a single figure (CNN describes a 'billion-dollar' criminal empire; court cited 14 deaths of Chinese nationals) · 2015–2023
Kokang militia leader and senior member of the Ming family syndicate that ran scam compounds in Laukkaing; executed in China with 10 other family members.
SOURCE: CNN, 29 Jan 2026
OPEN REPORT ▸
Wei Huairen CHARGEDREPORT PENDING
Not published · 2025
Co-leader with his brother Wei Chaoren of the Wei family, one of the Kokang 'four families' prosecuted in China over scam compounds.
SOURCE: Shan Herald Agency for News / CNN, Oct 2025–Jan 2026
FRAUD BY CATEGORY▸
No official body here publishes a breakdown of fraud by type, so we show none rather than guess.
KEY NUMBERS▸
120,000+ People estimated to be held and forced into online scam work in Myanmar (UN OHCHR, Aug 2023)
2,500+ Starlink terminals near suspected Myanmar scam centres cut off by SpaceX (SpaceX via press reports, Oct 2025)
16 Ming family syndicate members sentenced to death by a Wenzhou court (11 executed Jan 2026) (CNN, Sep 2025 and Jan 2026)
$3.5bn US losses in 2023 to cyber scams from Myanmar and elsewhere in Southeast Asia (US Treasury, May 2025)
WHO FIGHTS IT▸
China's Ministry of Public Security and courts have prosecuted Kokang crime families: Wenzhou court sentenced 16 Ming family members to death (Sep 2025), 11 executed (29 Jan 2026); Shenzhen court sentenced Bai Suocheng and four others to death (Nov 2025).
Thailand cut electricity to five Myanmar border areas hosting scam hubs, including Myawaddy and Tachileik (5 Feb 2025).
Myanmar junta raided KK Park (Oct 2025) and claimed demolition of scam buildings; analysts reported relocation rather than dismantling.
US Treasury sanctioned the Karen National Army and Saw Chit Thu as a transnational criminal organisation (May 2025); the UK sanctioned him in Dec 2023.
SOURCES▸
UN OHCHR report on online scam trafficking, Aug 2023
US Treasury press release, 5 May 2025
CNN, 30 Sep 2025, 4 Jan 2026 and 29 Jan 2026
The Record (Recorded Future News), Nov 2025
ABC News (Australia), 12 Nov 2025
Japan Times / AP, Nov-Dec 2025
RFA and The Diplomat, Feb 2025
Case lists and figures compiled September 2026 from court records, regulators and major press; statuses change. Series reports above are fact-checked case files.