Nearly 400 Chinese arrested for cyber scam activities in a month

Nearly 400 Chinese nationals have been arrested across six junta-controlled towns in Shan State for involvement in cyber scam activities in August, a regime statement said. The junta announced that 394 people were arrested in August from Muse and Mongyai towns in the north near the Chinese border, Kyethi and Namhsan in southern Shan State, and Tachileik and Kengtung towns in the east near the Thai border. In Muse, a border town notorious for crime, a joint force of junta and junta-allied militia members raided at least three houses hosting online scam activities, arresting 98 Chinese nationals and over 40 Myanmar nationals. The regime also arrested at least 149 others, including 48 Chinese nationals, in the town between April and June this year. Locals said that despite these frequent arrests which are widely publicised on regime media, online fraud syndicates continue to operate in Muse with the support of junta-backed militias. “They only raid places where they receive tip-offs. There are many cyber scam operations in town; they can’t arrest them all. In some buildings, militias themselves are providing security,” said a local woman from Muse. According to residents, cyber scam operators in Muse used to base themselves in hotels and prominent buildings, but after increased raids, they have shifted to renting private houses. “It’s not in hotels like before. They rent detached houses for tens of millions [of kyat]. People in the neighbourhood know that when a group of unfamiliar Chinese faces arrives and makes noise at night, that's an online scam operation,” another Muse resident said. In regime-controlled towns in the state’s south, 77 Chinese nationals were arrested in August, while 197 were arrested in eastern Shan State. An online fraud operation inside a house in Kaunghmulwae Ward, Muse Town, on June 13 (Photo: Junta’s Ministry of Information) Like the junta, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Shan State have also arrested and handed over individuals linked to fraud operations to the Chinese government. Sources close to the MNDAA revealed that on August 18, the group handed over detained Chinese nationals from an online fraud operation in Laukkai to the Chinese government. The UWSA Police Force also indicated that they handed back 250 Chinese nationals to China this month. Cyber scams spreading across Shan State Online fraud operations have expanded significantly since the 2021 military coup in UWSA-controlled areas near the Chinese border, and in the Kokang region, which was seized by the MNDAA from a junta-aligned militia in late 2023. In mid-2023, the Chinese government cracked down on online fraud operations along its shared border, leading to the arrest of junta-installed leaders of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone, as well as their family members. Additionally, under Chinese pressure, the UWSA raided online fraud operations across various areas under its control, handing over more than 1,000 Chinese nationals to the Chinese government. During those crackdowns, many Chinese nationals involved in fraud syndicates fled to northern and southern Shan State to evade arrest and continue operations. As a result, early this year the junta arrested more than 150 people, including over 100 Chinese nationals, linked to online fraud syndicates in southern Shan State. Locals who are familiar with the fraud operations said that Chinese nationals arriving in eastern and southern Shan State had shifted there from cyber scam syndicates on the Thai and Chinese borders. “There are arrests in the UWSA area, and so when they arrest people in Tachileik, the Chinese move deeper inside,” said one Namhsan resident. After assuming the presidency early this year following military-staged elections, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing stated in his 100-day speech that he would continue to combat online fraud operations in Myanmar. The junta’s foreign minister, Tin Maung Swe, also said during a transnational crime awareness-raising workshop on August 25 that over 72,000 foreign nationals from over 50 countries involved in online fraud had been deported back to their respective countries. Despite these statements, junta announcements and local accounts reveal that online fraud operations continue in Myawaddy in Karen State, Muse in northern Shan State, and several townships in southern Shan State, which are controlled by junta-allied militias.

Nearly 400 Chinese arrested for cyber scam activities in a month

The Chinese nationals were arrested during raids on at least six towns in Shan State controlled by the regime and its allied militias

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