Infamous Online Fraud Hub Linked with Chinese Mafia Stormed

The Myanmar junta claims it has taken control of one of the most well-known deception compounds on the border with Thailand, as it retakes important territory previously lost in the ongoing civil war.

KK Park, located south of the boundary community of Myawaddy, has been associated with internet scams, cash cleaning and forced labor for the past five years.

Numerous individuals were attracted to the complex with assurances of lucrative employment, and then forced to operate elaborate frauds, taking substantial sums of currency from targets across the globe.

The military, previously compromised by its connections to the scam operations, now declares it has seized the facility as it expands dominance around Myawaddy, the primary commercial route to Thailand.

In the previous month, the military has driven back opposition fighters in multiple regions of Myanmar, attempting to expand the number of territories where it can conduct a planned poll, commencing in December.

It still lacks authority over large swathes of the nation, which has been torn apart by hostilities since a government overthrow in February 2021.

The vote has been rejected as a fake by opposition forces who have vowed to prevent it in territories they hold.

KK Park started with a lease agreement in the beginning of 2020 to establish an industrial park between the Karen National Union (KNU), the rebel organization which governs much of this area, and a obscure HK listed firm, Huanya International.

Researchers think there are connections between Huanya and a prominent China-based criminal figure Wan Kuok Koi, more commonly called Broken Tooth, who has later invested in other scam hubs on the border.

The compound grew rapidly, and is clearly visible from the Thai border of the boundary.

Those who were able to escape from it describe a brutal system imposed on the thousands, many from African nations, who were detained there, compelled to labor excessive periods, with abuse and assaults administered on those who were unable to meet quotas.

A declaration by the regime's official media stated its personnel had "cleared" KK Park, releasing more than 2,000 laborers there and seizing 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink communication devices – commonly used by scam hubs on the Myanmar-Thai frontier for internet activities.

The declaration blamed what it described as the "extremist" Karen National Union and civilian resistance groups, which have been combating the military since the coup, for unlawfully controlling the territory.

The regime's claim to have shut down this notorious deception centre is almost certainly directed at its key backer, China.

Beijing has been pressing the junta and the Thailand administration to take additional measures to stop the criminal operations operated by Chinese organizations on their shared frontier.

Previously in the year many of China-based laborers were removed of scam compounds and transported on chartered planes back to China, after Thailand restricted availability to energy and fuel provisions.

But KK Park is merely one of no fewer than 30 similar compounds located on the boundary.

A large portion of these are under the protection of ethnic Karen paramilitary forces allied to the regime, and the majority are currently operating, with numerous individuals operating schemes inside them.

In reality, the assistance of these paramilitary forces has been essential in enabling the junta repel the KNU and additional resistance groups from territory they took control of over the previous 24 months.

The armed forces now controls almost all of the highway linking Myawaddy to the other parts of Myanmar, a goal the regime determined before it holds the opening round of the election in December.

It has seized Lay Kay Kaw, a modern community established for the KNU with Japan-based financial support in 2015, a era when there had been hopes for lasting stability in the Karen region following a countrywide ceasefire.

That represents a more significant blow to the KNU than the seizure of KK Park, from which it did get a certain amount of funds, but where most of the financial gains ended up with pro-junta paramilitary forces.

A knowledgeable insider has indicated that scam work is continuing in KK Park, and that it is likely the junta took control of merely a section of the sprawling facility.

The contact also believes Beijing is giving the Myanmar military inventories of Chinese persons it desires extracted from the deception complexes, and returned back to face trial in China, which may explain why KK Park was targeted.