Infamous Online Deception Hub Associated with China-based Mafia Raided

The Myanmar military claims it has seized among the most well-known deception facilities on the border with Thailand, as it regains important area previously lost in the continuing internal conflict.

KK Park, positioned south of the border town of Myawaddy, has been synonymous with internet scams, cash cleaning and human trafficking for the past five years.

Thousands were lured to the facility with promises of lucrative positions, and then forced to manage complex schemes, extracting countless millions of dollars from targets all over the world.

The junta, historically stained by its links to the scam business, now declares it has occupied the compound as it expands authority around Myawaddy, the main trade connection to Thailand.

In recent weeks, the armed forces has repelled rebels in several parts of Myanmar, attempting to maximise the amount of territories where it can conduct a planned poll, commencing in December.

It currently hasn't mastered extensive areas of the state, which has been fragmented by hostilities since a government overthrow in February 2021.

The election has been dismissed as a fake by anti-junta elements who have vowed to block it in regions they hold.

KK Park began with a lease agreement in the first part of 2020 to construct an industrial park between the Karen National Union (KNU), the armed ethnic faction which dominates much of this area, and a obscure HK listed company, Huanya International.

Researchers suspect there are links between Huanya and a prominent Chinese mafia individual Wan Kuok Koi, often referred to as Broken Tooth, who has later backed other fraud facilities on the border.

The compound grew rapidly, and is easily visible from the Thai territory of the boundary.

Those who succeeded to get away from it describe a harsh system imposed on the countless people, many from Africa-based nations, who were confined there, forced to operate long hours, with mistreatment and physical violence applied on those who failed to reach targets.

A declaration by the regime's communications department said its troops had "cleared" KK Park, liberating more than 2,000 laborers there and taking possession of 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite terminals – commonly used by scam centers on the border boundary for online activities.

The declaration blamed what it termed the "terrorist" Karen National Union and volunteer militia units, which have been combating the regime since the overthrow, for illegally occupying the region.

The regime's claim to have closed this well-known scam centre is probably aimed at its key backer, China.

Beijing has been urging the junta and the Thailand authorities to take additional measures to stop the unlawful businesses managed by Chinese networks on their shared frontier.

Previously in the year thousands of China-based workers were extracted of fraud complexes and flown on chartered planes back to China, after Thai authorities cut access to power and energy resources.

But KK Park is just a single of a minimum of 30 similar compounds positioned on the border.

The majority of these are under the control of local armed units associated to the military, and the majority are currently operating, with tens of thousands managing frauds inside them.

In reality, the backing of these paramilitary forces has been essential in helping the military repel the KNU and additional opposition groups from area they took control of over the past two years.

The junta now dominates nearly all of the road linking Myawaddy to the rest of Myanmar, a goal the junta determined before it conducts the initial phase of the poll in December.

It has taken Lay Kay Kaw, a recent settlement created for the KNU with Asian investment in 2015, a era when there had been hopes for enduring stability in the Karen region following a national peace agreement.

That constitutes a more important defeat to the KNU than the seizure of KK Park, from which it did get a certain amount of income, but where the bulk of the monetary advantages were directed to military-aligned paramilitary forces.

A well-placed insider has revealed that scam work is ongoing in KK Park, and that it is possible the armed forces seized only part of the large-scale facility.

The source also believes Beijing is giving the Burmese junta rosters of Asian individuals it desires extracted from the deception complexes, and returned back to face trial in China, which may clarify why KK Park was targeted.