Renowned Cyber Fraud Complex Associated with Asian Criminal Syndicate Targeted

The Burmese junta states it has captured a key the most notorious scam facilities on the border with Thailand, as it reclaims important land surrendered in the continuing internal conflict.

KK Park, south of the frontier settlement of Myawaddy, has been synonymous with internet scams, money laundering and forced labor for the recent half-decade.

Countless people were lured to the complex with promises of well-paid employment, and then forced to operate sophisticated scams, stealing substantial sums of money from targets all over the globe.

The military, historically tainted by its connections to the scam industry, now says it has occupied the complex as it extends control around Myawaddy, the key commercial route to Thailand.

In recent weeks, the military has pushed back insurgents in various regions of Myanmar, attempting to increase the number of territories where it can conduct a scheduled poll, starting in December.

It still lacks authority over large swathes of the nation, which has been fragmented by hostilities since a government overthrow in February 2021.

The vote has been dismissed as a fraud by anti-junta elements who have pledged to obstruct it in territories they control.

KK Park started with a rental contract in the beginning of 2020 to build an industrial park between the KNU (KNU), the ethnic insurgent faction which governs much of this region, and a unfamiliar Hong Kong listed firm, Huanya International.

Researchers suspect there are relationships between Huanya and a prominent China-based criminal figure Wan Kuok Koi, often referred to as Broken Tooth, who has subsequently backed further scam hubs on the boundary.

The compound expanded quickly, and is clearly noticeable from the Thailand border of the frontier.

Those who succeeded to get away from it detail a violent system enforced on the countless people, several from African nations, who were confined there, compelled to operate excessive periods, with abuse and beatings applied on those who did not manage to meet quotas.

A announcement by the military's official media stated its troops had "secured" KK Park, freeing in excess of 2,000 workers there and confiscating 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink communication devices – commonly used by fraud facilities on the Thai-Myanmar boundary for internet functions.

The announcement blamed what it called the "militant" KNU and local militia units, which have been combating the junta since the coup, for wrongfully holding the region.

The junta's declaration to have shut down this well-known fraud facility is almost certainly aimed at its primary patron, China.

Beijing has been pressuring the regime and the Thai administration to take additional measures to end the criminal businesses managed by China-based networks on their common boundary.

Earlier this year thousands of China-based laborers were removed of scam compounds and flown on special flights back to China, after Thailand eliminated access to power and fuel resources.

But KK Park is only one of no fewer than 30 comparable complexes located on the boundary.

A large portion of these are under the control of local armed units associated to the regime, and many are currently active, with tens of thousands running frauds inside them.

In fact, the backing of these militia groups has been critical in assisting the military repel the KNU and other rebel organizations from area they seized over the recent two-year period.

The junta now dominates nearly all of the highway joining Myawaddy to the other parts of Myanmar, a objective the junta determined before it organizes the first stage of the election in December.

It has seized Lay Kay Kaw, a recent settlement created for the KNU with Japan-based funding in 2015, a time when there had been expectations for permanent peace in Karen State following a national ceasefire.

That forms a more important defeat to the KNU than the capture of KK Park, from which it did get a certain amount of income, but where the bulk of the financial advantages ended up with pro-junta armed groups.

A well-placed contact has revealed that scam work is persisting in KK Park, and that it is possible the armed forces occupied just a portion of the large-scale facility.

The insider also believes Beijing is giving the Burmese military lists of China-based persons it wants removed from the fraud facilities, and returned back to stand trial in China, which may clarify why KK Park was attacked.