Renowned Digital Fraud Complex Connected with China-based Criminal Syndicate Targeted

The Myanmar military claims it has seized a key the most well-known fraud compounds on the boundary with Thailand, as it retakes important territory lost in the current domestic strife.

KK Park, located south of the boundary community of Myawaddy, has been synonymous with online fraud, cash cleaning and human trafficking for the past five years.

Countless people were attracted to the compound with guarantees of well-paid jobs, and then forced to operate complex frauds, taking countless millions of money from affected individuals across the planet.

The military, historically stained by its connections to the fraud operations, now claims it has occupied the facility as it extends authority around Myawaddy, the primary trade connection to Thailand.

In the past few weeks, the military has pushed back insurgents in various regions of Myanmar, attempting to expand the quantity of locations where it can organize a planned election, beginning in December.

It still lacks authority over large swathes of the country, which has been fragmented by conflict since a government overthrow in February 2021.

The election has been disregarded as a fake by anti-junta elements who have sworn to obstruct it in territories they occupy.

KK Park began with a lease agreement in the first part of 2020 to build an business complex between the KNU (KNU), the armed ethnic faction which governs much of this area, and a little-known HK listed corporation, Huanya International.

Investigators believe there are connections between Huanya and a notable Chinese mafia individual Wan Kuok Koi, often referred to as Broken Tooth, who has since invested in additional deception centers on the boundary.

The complex developed rapidly, and is clearly observable from the Thailand territory of the frontier.

Those who succeeded to flee from it recount a violent environment enforced on the thousands, numerous from African nations, who were held there, compelled to work excessive periods, with mistreatment and beatings inflicted on those who did not manage to achieve quotas.

A announcement by the regime's official media claimed its troops had "cleared" KK Park, releasing more than 2,000 laborers there and seizing 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink communication devices – extensively used by fraud centers on the border frontier for online activities.

The declaration blamed what it called the "extremist" ethnic organization and volunteer people's defence forces, which have been combating the military since the overthrow, for unlawfully holding the area.

The junta's assertion to have shut down this notorious scam facility is almost certainly targeted toward its main patron, China.

Beijing has been pressing the junta and the Thai government to take additional measures to end the unlawful activities operated by Asian organizations on their common boundary.

Earlier this year thousands of China-based employees were removed of deception compounds and flown on special flights back to China, after Thai authorities restricted availability to electricity and fuel supplies.

But KK Park is merely one of at least 30 similar complexes positioned on the frontier.

Most of these are under the control of local armed units aligned to the military, and the majority are still operating, with countless people managing scams inside them.

In reality, the assistance of these paramilitary forces has been crucial in helping the military drive back the KNU and additional rebel groups from territory they captured over the previous 24 months.

The armed forces now dominates the vast majority of the route joining Myawaddy to the rest of Myanmar, a objective the military established before it conducts the initial phase of the poll in December.

It has captured Lay Kay Kaw, a new town founded for the KNU with Japan-based financial support in 2015, a time when there had been expectations for lasting stability in the territory following a national ceasefire.

That represents a more significant setback to the KNU than the seizure of KK Park, from which it obtained a certain amount of revenue, but where the bulk of the monetary advantages went to military-aligned armed groups.

A well-placed source has revealed that fraud activities is continuing in KK Park, and that it is possible the armed forces seized only part of the sprawling facility.

The source also believes Beijing is supplying the Burmese junta rosters of Chinese people it wants extracted from the deception complexes, and transported back to face trial in China, which may explain why KK Park was targeted.