Myanmar’s military says it detained foreigners in raid on a second major online scam center

Myanmar’s military regime extended its crackdown on online scam activities to a second major location, detaining hundreds of foreigners and seizing thousands of mobile phones used to carry out the fraud, regime media reported Wednesday.

Myanmar is notorious for hosting cyberscam operations responsible for bilking people all over the world, which usually involve gaining victims’ confidence online with romantic ploys and bogus investment schemes. Authorities raided a major scam center in mid-October called KK Park on the outskirts of Myawaddy Township in Karen State, located along the border with Thailand.

On Tuesday, the pro-regime forces raided a scam compound in the town of Shwe Kokko, located 16 miles (25 km) north of Myawaddy, regime spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in a statement published on Wednesday.

He said authorities detained 346 foreigners and confiscated nearly 10,000 mobile phones along with other related equipment, while blocking people who were trying flee and escape across the border into Thailand.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has estimated that hundreds of industrial-scale scam centers based primarily in Southeast Asia generate just under $40 billion USD in annual profits.

Myanmar’s military reports that it began its crackdown on cross-border online scams and illegal gambling in early September. Following the raid on KK Park last month, more 1,500 people from about two dozen nations who had worked there crossed into Thailand, and Zaw Min Tun said the site’s buildings have been demolished, including by controlled explosions.