Myanmar junta raids Shan state online scam center, detains hundreds

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.

Myanmar junta authorities arrested nearly 750 people, including more than 240 Chinese nationals, in a raid on an online scam near Myanmar’s border with China, sources close to regional authorities told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday.

China has been pressing authorities in Myanmar for the past year to crack down on the online fraud gangs, many of which target Chinese citizens, and the arrests in the Shan state border town of Muse follow recent Chinese efforts to help Myanmar’s junta quell armed opposition to its rule.

A resident of Muse said junta forces raiding the scam center on Monday had clashed with guards there, members of a pro-junta militia who were apparently caught unaware by the raid.

“A shootout between the junta’s local militia and junta soldiers erupted in Muse’s Mingalar neighborhood and many people were arrested, including Chinese nationals,” said the resident, who declined to be identified for security reasons.

“Security control at the town’s gates has been tightened more than ever.”

It was not clear if there were any casualties in the shooting but sources close to Myanmar authorities said junta troops had detained nearly 750 people and 247 Chinese nationals among them would be handed over to authorities in China. 

RFA called Myanmar military officials in Muse and Shan state’s junta spokesperson, Khun Thein Maung, for more information but neither responded by the time of publication. 

The Chinese embassy in Myanmar did not respond to inquiries from RFA by time of publication.

Illegal casinos, online gambling and scam centers have proliferated along Myanmar’s borders with both China and Thailand, as well as in Laos and Cambodia, many run by Chinese gangsters, law enforcement organizations say. 

The operations often thrive on the labor of people tricked into thinking they’ve landed legitimate jobs but forced to adopt false identities online in what have become known as “pig-butchering” schemes, forming relationships with victims then tricking them into investing in fake schemes.

University of Texas researchers estimated in a March report that scammers had tricked investors out of more than US$75 billion since January 2020. 

China has turned to both junta authorities and its insurgent enemies, who control increasingly large areas in Shan state, for help in tackling the gangs.

Chinese media reported early this year that 44,000 telecom fraud suspects had been handed over to China including 2,908 “fugitives” but action against the scam centers appeared to dwindle later in the year as fighting intensified between the Myanmar military and anti-junta forces.

China is keen to see an end to the turmoil in Myanmar that threatens its economic interests, which include oil and natural gas pipelines from the Indian Ocean coast, and has in recent weeks pressed main insurgent forces in Shan state to agree to halt their offensives against the junta, although neither side appears ready to lay down their arms.

Analysts say China is hoping that an election the junta has promised to hold next year can pave the way for a resolution of Myanmar’s conflict, and it has offered help to organize the vote and a census that the military said will be held soon.

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Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.