Notorious Online Scam Center Connected with Chinese Underworld Raided

The Myanmar junta announces it has seized one of the most well-known deception facilities on the frontier with Thailand, as it regains important territory lost in the continuing internal conflict.

KK Park, south of the frontier settlement of Myawaddy, has been associated with online fraud, financial crime and forced labor for the recent half-decade.

Countless people were attracted to the facility with promises of well-paid positions, and then coerced to manage sophisticated frauds, taking countless millions of currency from victims all over the world.

The junta, previously stained by its links to the fraud business, now claims it has occupied the complex as it increases control around Myawaddy, the main economic link to Thailand.

In the previous month, the military has driven back insurgents in various areas of Myanmar, attempting to maximise the quantity of locations where it can hold a scheduled vote, commencing in December.

It still hasn't mastered large swathes of the country, which has been fragmented by hostilities since a military coup in February 2021.

The vote has been disregarded as a fake by opposition forces who have sworn to obstruct it in territories they hold.

KK Park commenced with a property arrangement in early 2020 to build an industrial park between the KNU (KNU), the ethnic insurgent group which dominates much of this area, and a unfamiliar Hong Kong stock market firm, Huanya International.

Researchers think there are connections between Huanya and a notable Chinese criminal personality Wan Kuok Koi, more commonly called Broken Tooth, who has later invested in other scam centers on the border.

The compound grew quickly, and is easily visible from the Thailand border of the frontier.

Those who were able to get away from it recount a harsh environment established on the countless people, many from African countries, who were detained there, compelled to operate long hours, with mistreatment and beatings administered on those who failed to meet quotas.

A announcement by the regime's official media said its personnel had "cleared" KK Park, freeing more than 2,000 laborers there and taking possession of 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink communication devices – commonly used by fraud centers on the border boundary for internet activities.

The statement faulted what it described as the "militant" KNU and volunteer people's defence forces, which have been fighting the junta since the takeover, for unlawfully controlling the territory.

The junta's claim to have dismantled this notorious scam hub is probably directed at its key supporter, China.

Beijing has been pressuring the military and the Thai authorities to do more to end the unlawful operations managed by Chinese networks on their border.

Previously in the year thousands of Chinese workers were removed of deception facilities and transported on special flights back to China, after Thailand eliminated supply to power and petroleum supplies.

But KK Park is merely one of at least 30 analogous facilities located on the frontier.

The majority of these are under the control of Karen paramilitary forces aligned to the military, and the majority are currently operating, with tens of thousands running scams inside them.

In reality, the backing of these militia groups has been crucial in assisting the military push back the KNU and other opposition factions from area they captured over the recent two-year period.

The military now controls nearly all of the road joining Myawaddy to the rest of Myanmar, a target the junta determined before it organizes the opening round of the election in December.

It has seized Lay Kay Kaw, a recent settlement established for the KNU with Japanese funding in 2015, a era when there had been hopes for enduring stability in the territory following a nationwide truce.

That represents a more important setback to the KNU than the takeover of KK Park, from which it obtained a certain amount of revenue, but where most of the economic benefits went to regime-supporting paramilitary forces.

A well-placed insider has revealed that scam operations is ongoing in KK Park, and that it is likely the military occupied only part of the sprawling compound.

The contact also believes Beijing is giving the Myanmar armed forces rosters of Asian people it desires removed from the scam compounds, and transported back to face trial in China, which may explain why KK Park was attacked.