Myanmar military demolishes scam compound facilities near Thailand border
Myanmar's military announced it is demolishing nearly 150 buildings—including luxury amenities like a gym, a spa, and a karaoke parlor—at a notorious internet scam compound near the Thai border known as KK Park. This crackdown, which follows a recent raid that saw over 1,500 people flee to Thailand, is viewed as a carefully orchestrated effort to appease international demands, particularly from China, without completely undermining the lucrative criminal operations that financially support key military allies.
Myanmar's military announced that it is demolishing nearly 150 buildings as part of a crackdown on a notorious internet scam compound bordering Thailand. The dismantled structures within the compound, known as KK Park, include dormitories, a four-floor hospital, and luxury facilities such as a gym, a spa, and a two-story karaoke complex.
These sprawling fraud factories have flourished in Myanmar's war-torn, loosely governed border regions. They house workers who execute sophisticated romance and business cons targeting internet users, resulting in losses estimated at tens of billions of dollars annually. While many workers are trafficked into these internet sweatshops, others join willingly due to the high earnings and luxury amenities provided for criminal bosses and their top staff.
The military recently announced a raid on KK Park, where over 2,000 alleged scammers were discovered, prompting 1,500 people to flee across the border into Thailand. Authorities stated that 101 buildings have already been demolished, with the remaining 47 in the process of being torn down. Locals in Myanmar and Thailand have reported hearing intermittent explosions since the raid began.
International Pressure and Internal Conflicts
Experts suggest the highly publicized raids are likely limited and choreographed. The military must maintain a delicate balance: it aims to alleviate international pressure to curb the scam centers while avoiding too severely damaging the profits that enrich the militias it relies on as crucial allies in the ongoing civil war.
China, a key military backer, has been increasingly frustrated by the rampant scams that target and involve its citizens. Earlier this year, pressure led to the repatriation of approximately 7,000 scam workers from Myanmar, and Thailand attempted to disrupt the fraud operations by enacting a cross-border internet blockade.
However, subsequent intelligence revealed that centers like KK Park were actually expanding despite the apparent crackdowns. They were found to have installed mass quantities of Starlink satellite internet receivers to circumvent the web cut-off. In response, the satellite internet provider later confirmed it had cut signal access to more than 2,500 satellite internet terminals in the vicinity of the suspected scam centers.
