Myanmar junta raids online scam hub in southern Shan, arrests 49 including 38 Chinese nationals

Myanmar’s military regime says it has arrested 49 people, including 38 Chinese nationals, after raiding an online scam operation in southern Shan State, one of several recent crackdowns as cyberscam networks shift deeper into junta-controlled territory. The raid took place on Monday evening at a scam compound near Nar Yine Ywar Thit, a village in Namsang Township, according to a statement released by the military on Wednesday. Those arrested included 38 Chinese citizens and 11 Myanmar nationals. The military said it also seized two rifles, two pistols, mobile phones, computers, and other equipment allegedly used in online fraud operations. The compound is located in an area primarily controlled by the Nar Yine militia, a pro-junta armed group operating under the military’s Eastern Central Command. Military sources told local media that the Chinese nationals involved in the operation had been based at the site for around three months before the raid. The arrests are the latest in a series of operations targeting online scam centres, locally known in Myanmar as kyar phyan, which have proliferated across the country’s border regions since the 2021 military coup. Earlier this year, the junta said it had arrested more than 150 people, including over 100 Chinese nationals, in raids on scam compounds in southern Shan State. In a speech marking the first 100 days of his self-proclaimed presidency following controversial elections earlier this year, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing claimed authorities had detained over 70,000 foreign nationals linked to online scam operations and vowed to continue the crackdown. Despite those claims, residents say junta-backed militia groups continue to operate online scam compounds in Myawaddy Township in Karen State, while similar operations remain active in Muse in northern Shan State and several townships in southern Shan State. Scam operations shift south Online scam syndicates expanded rapidly in territories controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and in the Kokang region along Myanmar's border with China after the military seized power in 2021. China began pressuring Myanmar authorities and ethnic armed groups to dismantle the compounds in mid-2023. Members of the junta-backed Kokang Border Guard Force, headquartered in the border town of Laukkai, along with their family members, were later executed after being handed over to Chinese authorities to face charges of involvement in online scam operations. Under pressure from Beijing, the UWSA—sometimes in collaboration with Myanmar’s military—detained more than 1,000 Chinese nationals linked to scam compounds in Panghsang, Mong Pawk, and other Wa-controlled areas before turning them over to Chinese authorities. During Operation 1027, a coordinated anti-junta offensive that began in October 2023, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, an ethnic Kokang armed group, also joined the crackdown on scam operators. Some were handed over to Chinese authorities, but many others are believed to have escaped. According to residents and local sources, many Chinese scam operators subsequently relocated their businesses away from the Chinese border to areas including Tangyan and Mongyai in northern Shan State, Kyethi and Mongnawng in southern Shan State, and remote villages in Tachileik Township in eastern Shan State.

Myanmar junta raids online scam hub in southern Shan, arrests 49 including 38 Chinese nationals

Despite the raids, residents say the cyberscam networks remain resilient, relocating to militia-controlled areas in Shan and Karen states to evade crackdowns

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