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Myanmar junta authorities have charged more than 450 people in connection with cybercrime after their arrest in an online scam center near the Chinese border, sources close to military authorities told Radio Free Asia on Friday.
Northeastern Myanmar’s Shan state has seen a proliferation of online gambling and scam centers, many run by Chinese gangsters, law enforcement organizations say.
China has been pressing authorities in Myanmar for the past year to crack down on the fraud gangs, and Myanmar authorities arrested nearly 750 people, including more than 240 Chinese nationals, in raids in the town of Muse, near the Chinese border on Sept. 23 and 24.
A source close to military authorities said 262 Myanmar men and 195 Myanmar women had been charged under the Communications Act, which came as a surprise as authorities had in the past usually let Myanmar people picked up in raids go free.
“Myanmar citizens were released in the past but now everyone was charged under the Communications Law,” said the source, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
“The army and police arrested them but immigration has taken responsibility for filing the case.”
Those charged with violating the Communications Law may face up to two years in prison.
RFA called Shan state’s junta spokesperson, Khun Thein Maung, for information on the charges but he did not respond by the time of publication.
The scam operations often thrive on the labor of people tricked into thinking they’ve landed legitimate jobs but forced to adopt false identities online in what have become known as “pig-butchering” schemes, forming relationships with victims then tricking them into investing in fake schemes.
As well as extensive scam operations in Myanmar, there has also been an explosion of fraud centers in Laos and Cambodia. University of Texas researchers estimated in a March report that in all, the centers had tricked investors out of more than US$75 billion since January 2020.
During September’s raid, 557 Myanmar nationals were arrested but 100 were quickly released, the source said. RFA could not confirm details of those detained or released or if any had been trafficked to Muse.
More than 240 Chinese nationals were deported over the nearby border days after the raids.
China has turned to both junta authorities and its insurgent enemies, who control increasingly large areas in Shan state, for help in tackling the gangs.
Chinese media reported early this year that more than 40,000 telecom fraud suspects had been handed over to China including 2,908 "fugitives".
The September raids in Muse followed Chinese efforts to help Myanmar’s junta quell armed opposition to its rule by pressing insurgent groups to give up their fight and open talks.
Following the September raids, which included a shootout between junta officials and members of a junta-affiliated militia group guarding a scam center, casinos in the town were ordered to close.
Muse residents said many were preparing to re-open on Oct. 20.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan.