Renowned Digital Scam Hub Linked with China-based Underworld Targeted

The Burmese military claims it has taken control of one of the most well-known deception facilities on the frontier with Thai territory, as it retakes important area surrendered in the continuing civil war.

KK Park, located south of the frontier settlement of Myawaddy, has been synonymous with internet scams, cash cleaning and human trafficking for the previous five-year period.

Countless people were enticed to the facility with guarantees of lucrative positions, and then coerced to operate complex frauds, stealing substantial sums of dollars from affected individuals throughout the planet.

The military, previously tainted by its links to the fraud industry, now declares it has taken the complex as it extends control around Myawaddy, the primary economic route to Thailand.

In the past few weeks, the junta has repelled rebels in various areas of Myanmar, seeking to increase the number of places where it can conduct a proposed vote, commencing in December.

It currently lacks authority over significant territories of the country, which has been torn apart by fighting since a military coup in February 2021.

The election has been dismissed as a sham by opposition forces who have sworn to block it in areas they hold.

KK Park commenced with a lease agreement in the beginning of 2020 to build an commercial zone between the ethnic organization (KNU), the armed ethnic group which controls much of this region, and a obscure Hong Kong publicly traded firm, Huanya International.

Researchers suspect there are links between Huanya and a notable Asian criminal figure Wan Kuok Koi, better known as Broken Tooth, who has since funded further deception hubs on the frontier.

The compound expanded rapidly, and is clearly observable from the Thai territory of the boundary.

Those who succeeded to escape from it describe a violent environment established on the thousands, several from Africa-based countries, who were detained there, made to labor long hours, with mistreatment and physical violence inflicted on those who did not manage to meet objectives.

A statement by the junta's official media stated its forces had "liberated" KK Park, liberating in excess of 2,000 workers there and seizing 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink internet equipment – commonly used by fraud centers on the Myanmar-Thai boundary for online activities.

The declaration faulted what it described as the "militant" ethnic organization and volunteer militia units, which have been opposing the military since the coup, for unlawfully occupying the area.

The regime's declaration to have closed this well-known fraud centre is probably targeted toward its primary backer, China.

Beijing has been pressing the junta and the Thailand government to increase efforts to end the illegal businesses run by Chinese syndicates on their shared frontier.

In previous months many of Asian employees were removed of fraud compounds and transported on special flights back to China, after Thailand restricted supply to electricity and energy provisions.

But KK Park is merely one of a minimum of 30 similar compounds located on the boundary.

A large portion of these are under the guardianship of ethnic Karen armed units aligned to the military, and most are still operating, with tens of thousands operating schemes inside them.

In reality, the assistance of these militia groups has been critical in assisting the junta repel the KNU and other resistance factions from territory they took control of over the past two years.

The junta now dominates the vast majority of the route joining Myawaddy to the other parts of Myanmar, a goal the military determined before it conducts the first stage of the poll in December.

It has taken Lay Kay Kaw, a modern community founded for the KNU with Japan-based investment in 2015, a time when there had been expectations for lasting peace in Karen State following a national truce.

That constitutes a more significant defeat to the KNU than the seizure of KK Park, from which it did get a certain amount of income, but where the bulk of the economic benefits went to pro-junta armed groups.

A knowledgeable source has indicated that fraud work is continuing in KK Park, and that it is likely the armed forces took control of only part of the extensive facility.

The contact also thinks Beijing is providing the Myanmar armed forces inventories of China-based individuals it seeks taken from the fraud complexes, and transported back to be prosecuted in China, which may explain why KK Park was targeted.