Myanmar has stepped up its crackdown on cyber fraud and illegal online gambling, with police and military units demolishing almost 300 buildings in and around the notorious border hub of Shwe Kokko, long branded Southeast Asia’s “scam capital”.
According to local authorities, inspections began in November targeting compounds used for online scam operations, many of them fronting as casino or entertainment complexes along the Thai–Myanmar border. Government statements say more than 100 illegal buildings have already been razed, with dozens more sealed, confiscated or marked for demolition in the coming days as part of an ongoing campaign.
Shwe Kokko emerged from 2017 as a private “new city” development, promoted by Chinese-backed Yatai International as a casino destination. In practice, the area evolved into a major hub for crypto investment scams, illegal online casinos and telecom fraud, run by transnational criminal networks.
Rights groups and UN reports have repeatedly warned that these scam centres operate on the back of human trafficking and forced labour. Victims from across Asia are lured with offers of high-paying tech jobs, then coerced into running romance scams and “pig-butchering” investment frauds targeting victims worldwide. The UN estimates at least 120,000 people in Myanmar are being held in such compounds.
The current wave of demolitions follows intense diplomatic pressure from China and other governments, frustrated by the volume of fraud against their citizens. It also comes after high-profile raids on the similarly infamous KK Park complex, where authorities claim to have destroyed more than 200 buildings and detained over 12,000 undocumented foreign workers since October.
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However, analysts caution that the offensive may be more cosmetic than structural. Satellite imagery and investigative reporting suggest that only portions of some compounds have been levelled, while much of the infrastructure and many scam operators simply relocate to other loosely governed border zones.
For now, Myanmar’s campaign sends a signal to the region’s booming scam economy. Whether demolishing hundreds of buildings will meaningfully curb online gambling rings, crypto fraud and cyber slavery, or merely prompt the networks to move and adapt, remains an open question for regulators and law-enforcement agencies across Asia.
