Explosions shattered the calm along the Moei River, which separates Thailand from Myanmar, sending ethnic Karen families scrambling from the water as dark smoke billowed from nearby trees. The blasts marked a renewed escalation of fighting along the border, signalling that Myanmar’s nearly five-year-old post-coup conflict has once again spilled into frontier areas. This time, however, the violence is closely linked to the sprawling online scam industry that has taken root in Karen State over the past two years.
Myanmar’s military junta has claimed it is determined to wipe out scam operations, with spokesperson Gen Zaw Min Tun asserting that efforts are under way to eradicate online fraud “from their roots”. Yet these assurances have been met with widespread scepticism, given the military’s long history of tolerating, and in some cases benefiting from, the very networks it now claims to dismantle.
The scam crisis is deeply intertwined with Myanmar’s protracted civil war. After losing significant territory to ethnic armed groups following the 2021 coup, the military has launched counter-offensives this year, bolstered by fresh conscripts and new weaponry, including drones supplied by Russia and China. In Karen State, it has pushed back the Karen National Union (KNU), an ethnic force that has opposed the central military for decades and has been among the most vocal critics of the coup.
In a dramatic turn at the end of October, the army stormed KK Park, one of the largest and most notorious scam hubs in the region. Thousands of foreign nationals running online fraud operations were driven out—some willing participants, others victims of trafficking forced into cybercrime. State media broadcast images of soldiers seizing mobile phones, computers and Starlink satellite equipment, before demolishing buildings with explosives.
The crackdown marked a sharp departure from years of inaction. Previously, scam centres flourished along the Thai border under the protection of local militias allied with the military, while Chinese crime syndicates amassed vast profits. Portions of this money are widely believed to have filtered up to powerful figures within the junta. Although the military has attempted to pin responsibility on the KNU, there is little evidence to support this, with the group maintaining distance from the scam economy.
Globally, these scam operations have cost victims billions of dollars through romance fraud, fake investment schemes and cryptocurrency cons, while the human cost in Southeast Asia has included trafficking, forced labour and serious human rights abuses. Growing international alarm has prompted coordinated law enforcement efforts, including a US-led anti-scam task force. China, a key ally of Myanmar’s generals, has also exerted pressure, as thousands of its citizens have been defrauded or held captive in scam compounds.
Despite the spectacle of demolitions at KK Park, analysts note that the infrastructure for scams remains largely intact, and operations have targeted only a fraction of the dozens of such complexes across the border region. Many scam workers have crossed into Thailand, while others have dispersed deeper into Myanmar. Meanwhile, new compounds continue to emerge in contested areas controlled by militias aligned with the junta.
Observers say the timing of the crackdown is closely linked to the military’s plan to hold an election later this month—an exercise widely criticised as neither free nor inclusive. With much of the country engulfed in conflict and the regime facing domestic and international isolation, the generals appear eager to reclaim territory and polish their image, particularly in the eyes of Beijing.
Yet evidence from along the border suggests the scam industry remains resilient. New, heavily guarded compounds equipped with satellite internet continue to operate, underscoring that while some high-profile centres may be damaged, the broader network of fraud in Myanmar is far from dismantled.
