Myanmar’s junta said Monday it had raided one of the country’s most notorious cyber scam centers and seized Starlink satellite internet devices.
Myanmar’s government media outlet, The Global New Light of Myanmar, said the military “conducted operations in KK Park near the Myanmar-Thailand border” and “seized 30 sets of Starlink receivers and accessories,” according to the AFP news agency.
The AFP said that number represents only a fraction of the Starlink devices identified using satellite imagery and drone photography. On the roof of a single building in KK Park, images showed nearly 80 Internet satellite dishes.
The Global New Light of Myanmar also said junta troops occupied around 200 buildings and found nearly 2,200 workers at the site, while 15 “Chinese scammers” were arrested for involvement in “online gambling, online fraud and other criminal activities” around KK Park.
A crackdown by authorities in Thailand, China and Myanmar starting in February saw thousands of suspected scammers repatriated, with experts saying some in the scam industry participate voluntarily while others are coerced into doing so by organized crime groups.
The Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress told the AFP news agency that it had opened an investigation into Starlink’s involvement in these centers. Although she can summon owner Elon Musk to a hearing, she cannot compel him to testify.
Starlink’s parent company, SpaceX, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Online scam hubs have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years, particularly in some of the more lawless parts of Myanmar, as well as neighboring Laos and Cambodia.
The centers are often run by Chinese gangs and are known to lure unsuspecting people into jobs that involve going online to contact and defraud people, many in China.
Chinese authorities are keen to stop racketeering activities based across the border in Myanmar, and measures against them have become a key factor for rival factions in Myanmar, from the junta to its foes insurgents and other militias, as they vie for favor with China.
With a report from AFP.