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China boasts of crackdown on scam centres on Myanmar border
China boasts of crackdown on scam centres on Myanmar border
by AFP Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Oct 17, 2025

Chinese authorities are boasting of a sweeping crackdown on scam centres across the country's southern border with Myanmar, days before a key political meeting in Beijing.

Government statements published since Wednesday mention the arrests of more than 57,000 Chinese citizens for their alleged involvement in fraud and detail accounts of torture and murder in the murky compounds.

An AFP investigation revealed Tuesday that despite China's efforts to smash them with security forces in Myanmar and Thailand, scam centres are still in business and bigger than ever.

Satellite images and AFP drone footage showed frenetic building work in the heavily guarded compounds around Myawaddy on the Thailand-Myanmar border.

They appeared to be using Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service on a huge scale.

People trafficked or lured by false promises into scam centres are forced to work around the clock, extracting billions of dollars from victims around the world through phone and internet scams.

Some also go willingly.

Experts say most of the centres, notorious for their romance scams and "pig butchering" investment cons, are run by Chinese-led crime syndicates working with Myanmar militias in the lawless badlands of the Golden Triangle.

Their fate has sparked wideranging discussion in China, with in-depth accounts of Beijing's crackdown on fraud rings dominating social media this week.

The revelations, shared by China's Ministry of Public Security, come before a closely watched four-day gathering of top officials in Beijing for deliberations on long-term economic planning.

A court in September held a hearing against prominent gang leader Xu Faqi and his associates, the ministry said in a statement Friday.

Xu, arrested last January, is accused of helping run 14 scam centres in Myanmar's northern Kokang region, the ministry said.

He allegedly oversaw a 400-man militia that beat and killed people who failed to meet scam targets.

The ministry said in a statement Wednesday that members of another prominent gang known as the Wei family have been indicted and will soon face trial.

"Violence and brutality were everywhere in the cyber fraud complex," the ministry said of the Wei-run parks also in Kokang.

It added that "dog cages" featured at the compounds where "beatings, corporal punishment, nail pulling, finger chopping and shootings were commonplace".

The park-runners had "hands stained with the blood of the Chinese people", the ministry said.

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