By AFP and Focus | 2025-10-17

MAE SOT, Thailand -- Scam centers in Burma blamed for swindling billions from victims around the world are expanding fast just months after a crackdown that was supposed to eradicate them, an AFP investigation has found.

New buildings have been springing up inside the heavily guarded compounds around Myawaddy on the Thailand-Burma border at a dizzying pace, with others festooned with dishes for Elon Musk's Starlink internet service, satellite images and AFP drone footage show.

The revelations come as Britain and the United States imposed sanctions October 14 on the "masterminds behind industrial-scale scam centers in Southeast Asia," freezing 19 London properties "linked to a multi-billion-pound network."

US prosecutors seized $15 billion in cryptocurrency they said is held by Chinese-born Chen Zhi, the alleged chief of a "sprawling cyber-fraud empire" based in Cambodia, authorities announced October 14.

Chen is at large.

"The complaint is the largest forfeiture action in the history of the [US] Department of Justice, according to the agency," CBS News reported.

Linkage to Cambodian politics

Mark Taylor, who formerly worked for the Cambodian branch of the nonprofit organization Winrock International to combat human trafficking, pointed out that Chen is deeply intertwined with Cambodian politics and well protected.

Cambodia is a haven in the cyber scam ecosystem, he said, according to Radio Canada. Chen previously served as a personal adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.

According to independent research organization Cyber Scam Monitor, which bases its findings on firsthand testimonies from former scam workers, on-the-ground investigations and media reports, more than 200 cyber scam centers and casinos function in Cambodia alone.

In recent years, Chen received the honorary title of "Neak Oknha" in Cambodia. On the surface, Chen's company, Prince Holding Group, appears to operate legitimate businesses such as real estate development and financial services. Behind the scenes, it runs forced labor scam compounds in Cambodia, where workers are trafficked and "confined in prison-like compounds."

These "slaves" are controlled through violence and forced to engage in cryptocurrency investment scams and other fraudulent activities.

Slavery and suicides

The centers have caused misery to millions of victims across the world, pushing some to suicide, while the families of those who work in them often have to pay to have relatives freed.

Most of the centers in Burma and Cambodia, notorious for their romance scams and "pig butchering" investment cons, are run by Chinese-led crime syndicates that have switched from gambling into cybercrime, say analysts.

China, Thailand and Burma forced pro-junta Burmese militias who protect the centers into promising to "eradicate" the compounds in February. They freed about 7,000 captives -- most Chinese citizens -- from the brutal call center-style system, which the United Nations says runs on forced labor and human trafficking.

Many workers told AFP they were beaten and forced to work long hours by bosses who target victims across the globe with telephone, internet and social media cons.

Construction is humming

But only weeks after the headline-grabbing releases in Burma, building work on several of the centers had started along the Moei River, which forms the frontier with Thailand.

AFP analysis of satellite images from Planet Labs PBC found dozens of buildings going up or being altered in the largest of the compounds, KK Park, between March and September.

Construction work also has been going on at several of the other 27 suspected scam centers in the Myawaddy cluster, an AFP analysis found, including what the US Treasury called the "notorious" Shwe Kokko centers, north of Myawaddy.

Corrupting officials in several countries

According to the indictment filed in New York, Chen and his co-conspirators leveraged political influence to shield their scam operations from law enforcement in multiple countries, including China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and Ministry of State Security. Executives at Prince Holding Group even bribed officials to receive advance warnings of impending raids on their scam compounds.

For example, in or about May 2023, a suspect whom the US government called Co-Conspirator-2 communicated with an MPS official who stated that he could get Prince Holding Group associates "off the hook." In return, Co-Conspirator-2 offered to "take care of" the official's son.

Possibly 220,000 scammers at work

Up to 120,000 captives may be being "forced to carry out online scams" in the Burmese centers, according to a United Nations report in 2023, with another 100,000 held in Cambodia.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung October 14 said that he was concerned by the "significant harm" being done by the centers amid nationwide shock over the death of a Korean student who police said was tortured and killed after his kidnapping in Cambodia.

Criminals have abducted other Koreans in Cambodia. "The numbers are not small, and many of our citizens are deeply concerned about their family members," Lee said.

A chartered flight is scheduled to repatriate on October 18 about 60 South Koreans who might have been working under duress in Cambodian scam centers, Yonhap News reported.