(MENAFN- The Arabian Post)

Security forces in Myanmar's border region with Thailand have confiscated roughly 10,000 mobile phones and associated equipment as part of a wide-ranging operation against online fraud networks, the country's military government announced. The action unfolded in the Myawaddy township of Kayin State, where an internet scam hub known as KK Park was raided, and approximately 346 foreign nationals detained during the sweep.

The military accused the ethnic armed organisation Karen National Union of providing shelter and protection to the scam facilities in the area, asserting that the group had profited from leasing land and supplying security for the operations. The KNU denies the allegations, dismissing accusations as diversionary tactics aimed at deflecting international scrutiny.

Investigations into the regional scam industry indicate that the hub at KK Park was a major node in a transnational network. It had housed thousands of workers, many of them foreign nationals, recruited under false pretences and coerced into undertaking fraudulent investment and romance-based scams. One expert estimated that over 25,000 individuals may have been employed at the compound when it was at full capacity.

The pattern of raids, phone-seizures and detentions follows mounting pressure from China, the United States and Thailand on Myanmar to clamp down on scam centres operating along its porous borders. Beijing in particular has voiced concerns over the large number of its nationals reportedly trafficked into these centres and used to carry out online fraud.

While Myanmar's military government presents the operation as evidence of a dedicated crackdown, analysts caution that the underlying industry remains resilient. They argue that the siezure of equipment and arrests may amount to symbolic gestures rather than full-scale dismantling of the networks. One regional researcher commented that,“The reality is that this is just another iteration of political theatre.”

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The machinery of the scam hubs is sophisticated. Reports show that satellite internet terminals - including those from Starlink - were detected at the sites, offering the operators a means to circumvent telecommunications shutdowns and monitoring. Some of the confiscated equipment may have included such terminals.

Victims' testimonies, previously collected by international organisations, describe extreme working conditions: long hours, confiscated passports and phones, threats of violence and attempts to escape followed by retaliation. These accounts align with broader United Nations and law-enforcement assessments that the scam compounds in the region form part of a trillion-dollar industry of cyber-enabled fraud, human trafficking and money laundering.

Thailand has intensified its action by cutting off power, fuel and internet services to the compounds along the border with Myanmar, aiming to squeeze the operatives' ability to reach overseas victims. Collaboration among Thailand, China and Myanmar is said to have increased although questions remain over legal accountability and long-term enforcement.

The military's June pledge of phased elections and hand-over of power has been dismissed by Western governments as superficial. Some analysts view the crackdown as a strategic move by the military government to appease Beijing while maintaining influence over the illicit economy linked to the scam hubs.

As the network of scam compounds extends beyond Myanmar into Cambodia and Laos, officials warn that dismantling one site may prompt fragmentation and relocation of the operations rather than their elimination. The region's enforcement agencies face the challenge of working across jurisdictions and breaking the supply chains of trafficked labour, illicit finance and digital infrastructure.

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