Myanmar's military government has affirmed its readiness to repatriate around 1,000 foreign nationals rescued from online scam centres near the Thai border while ramping up its crackdown on transnational criminal networks.
About 1,030 foreign nationals were rescued from online scam centres in the past three weeks, and authorities have already sent 61 of them to their home countries, the ruling State Administration Council said in a statement on February 17. The rest would be repatriated after verification of their personal details, it said.
The scam centre victims are mostly from Asian countries, including China and India, while some others came from East Africa, according to Myanmar’s Ministry of Information.
The junta launched a military operation to combat online scams under pressure from its neighbours Thailand and China after the trafficking of a high-profile Chinese actor put the spotlight on criminal activities across the Thai borders. The military has raided camps in the northeast and eastern Shan State besides targeting Shwe Kokko area controlled by a junta-allied armed group called Kayin State Border Guard Force.
The militia group said it aims to deport 10,000 foreign nationals working in scam centres in areas controlled by it in phases. It will coordinate the repatriation with China, Myanmar and Thailand.
Across Southeast Asia, the billion-dollar cyber scam operations have been expanding, particularly in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
An estimated 220,000 people were estimated to have been tricked into working for romance-investment schemes, crypto fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling in Myanmar and Cambodia alone, according to a report from the United Nations Human Rights Office report in 2023. Most people trafficked into the online scam operations are men, although women and adolescents are also among the victims, it said.
