Myanmar launches nationwide campaign to dismantle telecom fraud and online gambling networks

Myanmar’s military government has unveiled a national campaign against telecom fraud and illegal online gambling, combining a new high-level supervisory committee, mass demolitions of scam hubs and large-scale repatriation of foreign workers in an effort to shut down cross-border criminal networks centred on KK Park and Shwe Kokko.

Myanmar has formally framed its crackdown on telecom fraud and illegal online gambling as a nationwide campaign, after senior officials outlined a series of coordinated actions at a press conference in Yangon on 14 December. Zaw Min Tun, head of the National Defence and Security Council’s Information Team, described telecom fraud and online gambling as a “national security threat” that undermines public trust, economic security and national stability, pledging “zero tolerance” for such activities.

A central pillar of the campaign is the newly created Central Supervisory Committee for Combating Telecom Fraud and Online Gambling, established on 10 December. Chaired by Home Affairs Minister Lt-Gen Tun Tun Naung, the 16-member body brings together ministers, the central bank governor, senior police and regional commanders to coordinate enforcement, standard operating procedures and international cooperation “to ensure that telecom fraud and online gambling activities cannot be operated anywhere inside Myanmar.”

Officials highlighted “special operations” conducted over the past two years against notorious scam enclaves in Shan and Kayin States, including Laukkai, Shwe Kokko and KK Park along the Thai border. Authorities say more than 70,000 foreign nationals forced to work in online fraud and gambling schemes have been identified and deported to 54 countries since late 2023, with joint task forces operating alongside Chinese and Thai agencies.

On the ground, Myanmar reports extensive demolition of infrastructure linked to online scam and gambling operations. In the KK Park complex alone, more than 440 of 635 illegal buildings used for telecom fraud and online gambling have been demolished, while similar operations in Shwe Kokko have seen dozens more structures inspected, sealed and dismantled. Seized equipment – from computers and phones to satellite terminals – is being systematically incinerated to prevent reuse.

The government presents the campaign as a “national responsibility” and has called on foreign governments and international organisations to step up intelligence sharing, technical support and cooperation on repatriation of victims and suspects. At the same time, rights groups and investigative organisations note that scam compounds have long operated with the involvement or tolerance of armed groups and local power brokers, warning that dismantling buildings will not be enough unless the financial and political networks behind a cybercrime industry estimated at nearly US$40bn a year across the region are also dismantled.

For the wider Asian gambling and betting ecosystem, Myanmar’s campaign underlines two parallel trends: an increasingly hard line against unlicensed online gambling and scam-linked operations, and the growing role of cross-border law-enforcement cooperation in tackling fraud networks that use gambling brands and platforms as covers for cybercrime and human trafficking.