As fighting on Myanmar-China border rages on, scam networks hunt for new sites
- The assault by the ‘Three Brotherhood Alliance’ armed group follows recent extensive Chinese operations to take out scam networks along the border
- Scam networks have fled elsewhere in the wake of the crackdown, and the ongoing conflict makes it difficult to know the fates of trafficked victims, the UN says
A week of fighting between armed groups and Myanmar’s military on the northern border with China has left dozens dead, displaced thousands and prompted surviving cyber scam centres to shift operations further along a dangerous frontier controlled by crime gangs and warlords.
A trio of armed ethnic groups under the banner of the “Three Brotherhood Alliance” launched artillery strikes and ground offensives on October 27, taking strategic border towns and hitting Myanmar junta posts across a large swathe of Shan State.
Videos of hundreds of RPGs, rifles and motors apparently seized from junta forces in the so-called Operation 1027, have been shared across their Facebook page The Kokang, in operations which they say aim to stop “the Burmese military’s non-stop airstrikes” and “eradicate the internet fraud rings and their protective networks”.
The shock assault by the Brotherhood – which includes the MNDAA and TNLA, both of whom can call on thousands of troops – followed extensive Chinese operations over recent weeks to take out scam networks which thread through the border area of Shan State.
Hundreds of Chinese citizens, many forced into scamming, have been freed as Beijing issued arrest warrants for once untouchable warlords for their roles in scamming billions of dollars from Chinese citizens.
China’s crackdown on scams, mostly targeting Chinese nationals and members of the Chinese diaspora with romance frauds and pyramid investment schemes, appears to have set off a chain reaction, reconfiguring a careful power arrangement in the border area.
In the chaos of recent days, scam networks have fled, folded or hastily set up in new secure buildings to continue their lucrative work, taking with them hundreds of trafficked workers from Asia.
