A Chinese court on Monday sentenced 16 members of a family-run criminal gang to death for running violent scam centres in Myanmar’s Kokang region, alongside other serious crimes.
Scam compounds have proliferated in Myanmar’s lawless border zones, often staffed by foreigners — many of them Chinese — who claim they were trafficked and forced into online fraud. The illicit industry is worth billions of dollars.
China has recently intensified cooperation with Southeast Asian countries to dismantle such operations, leading to the repatriation of thousands of suspects.
According to the Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court, the convicted group was involved in cyber fraud, drug trafficking, illegal casinos, and prostitution rackets from 2015.
The court revealed that the gang was responsible for the deaths of 14 people, including 10 fraud workers who were either trying to escape or defied the group’s orders.
One particularly violent incident occurred in October 2023 when the gang “opened fire” at a scam compound to prevent detainees from being transferred back to China.
The syndicate amassed over 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) from its criminal operations, the court stated in a judgment posted on social media.
While 16 gang members received the death penalty, five were granted a two-year reprieve. Another 23 associates were handed prison terms ranging from five years to life imprisonment.