Renowned Online Scam Complex Linked with Chinese Underworld Raided

The Myanmar junta claims it has seized a key the most well-known scam complexes on the frontier with Thai territory, as it regains key area previously lost in the current internal conflict.

KK Park, located south of the border town of Myawaddy, has been linked with digital deception, cash cleaning and human trafficking for the past five years.

Countless people were attracted to the compound with guarantees of well-paid positions, and then coerced to operate complex scams, taking billions of dollars from affected individuals all over the planet.

The armed forces, previously compromised by its links to the deception operations, now says it has taken the compound as it extends control around Myawaddy, the main economic route to Thailand.

In recent weeks, the military has repelled rebels in multiple regions of Myanmar, aiming to expand the number of territories where it can conduct a proposed election, beginning in December.

It currently lacks authority over significant territories of the state, which has been fragmented by hostilities since a military coup in February 2021.

The vote has been dismissed as a sham by opposition forces who have vowed to prevent it in regions they hold.

KK Park began with a lease agreement in the beginning of 2020 to construct an industrial park between the KNU (KNU), the ethnic insurgent group which controls much of this territory, and a little-known Hong Kong stock market firm, Huanya International.

Investigators believe there are relationships between Huanya and a influential Asian underworld figure Wan Kuok Koi, better known as Broken Tooth, who has since backed additional fraud hubs on the border.

The complex expanded quickly, and is easily visible from the Thai side of the frontier.

Those who were able to escape from it recount a harsh system established on the thousands, several from continental African nations, who were confined there, made to operate excessive periods, with mistreatment and physical violence inflicted on those who failed to meet targets.

A announcement by the junta's information ministry said its troops had "liberated" KK Park, freeing over 2,000 workers there and confiscating 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink communication devices – commonly utilized by fraud facilities on the Myanmar-Thai boundary for online operations.

The declaration blamed what it called the "extremist" Karen National Union and civilian militia units, which have been fighting the military since the coup, for wrongfully controlling the region.

The junta's assertion to have shut down this well-known deception centre is almost certainly directed at its key backer, China.

Beijing has been pressuring the regime and the Thai administration to do more to stop the criminal businesses managed by Asian organizations on their border.

In previous months many of Asian workers were taken out of fraud complexes and flown on special flights back to China, after Thailand restricted availability to electricity and energy provisions.

But KK Park is just a single of at least 30 comparable facilities situated on the frontier.

The majority of these are under the guardianship of local armed units aligned to the junta, and many are currently active, with countless people operating scams inside them.

In reality, the assistance of these armed units has been essential in assisting the junta repel the KNU and further opposition groups from territory they took control of over the past two years.

The armed forces now governs almost all of the route joining Myawaddy to the other parts of Myanmar, a goal the military set itself before it organizes the initial phase of the poll in December.

It has captured Lay Kay Kaw, a new town founded for the KNU with Japan-based investment in 2015, a time when there had been hopes for permanent stability in the Karen region following a nationwide truce.

That represents a more significant setback to the KNU than the seizure of KK Park, from which it did get limited revenue, but where the bulk of the economic gains went to military-aligned paramilitary forces.

A informed source has suggested that scam operations is ongoing in KK Park, and that it is possible the military took control of only part of the large-scale complex.

The insider also suspects Beijing is supplying the Myanmar junta lists of Asian persons it desires taken from the scam compounds, and sent back to stand trial in China, which may explain why KK Park was targeted.