COMBATING CYBER SCAMS
BGF soldiers patrolled workplaces at Shwe Kokko in Myanmar’s eastern Myawaddy township on Friday as part of a crackdown on alleged human trafficking, an AFP stringer saw.
Shwe Kokko, a scam compound located in an area under BGF control in Karen state, is a built-up city that stands out among the surrounding agricultural fields.
Cyber scam compounds often lure people from around the globe with promises of high-paying jobs but then effectively hold them hostage and force them to commit online fraud or face severe punishment.
Authorities and militia groups in Myanmar and Thailand have made a show of raiding the centres, which have also been linked to drug smuggling and gambling, before releasing and repatriating the foreigners inside.
Thailand deported 10 Chinese nationals linked to the high-profile alleged kidnapping of an actor who was rescued from a cyber fraud centre in Myanmar, Thai police told AFP on Saturday.
The suspects were part of a gang operating in Myawaddy, south of Shwe Kokko, and were allegedly involved in defrauding Chinese citizens, according to a police statement.
More than 250 foreign nationals from over a dozen countries were also rescued from an online scam centre in Kyauk Khet, 50km south of Shwe Kokko, and were handed over to Thailand on Wednesday.
BGF Major General Saw Chit Thu released a statement on Thursday saying the militia were “identifying, arresting, and suppressing human traffickers and fraudsters who are illegally operating within investment projects in our region”.
