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| KK Park, taken from the Thai side of the border that is separated by the Moei River, Feb. 28, 2025. (Credit: Don Pathan) |
Don Pathan
Mizzima News
The Myanmar military junta attempted to score a public relations victory during the recent ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur by demonstrating its willingness to crack down on scam centers operating in Karen State, adjacent to Thailand’s Mae Sot district in Tak province.
After attacking positions held by the Karen National Union’s (KNU) 6th Brigade, Myanmar troops entered portions of the notorious KK Park, a major scam hub linked to Chinese crime syndicates. They confiscated 30 Starlink devices that scammers had been using in recent years after Thailand, under pressure from both the United States and China, disrupted internet connections to these call centers by redirecting relay boxes on utility poles and ordering power lines running from Thailand to cease operations.
A turning point came in January 2025, when China intensified pressure on Thailand to take drastic action, including cutting off power supplies, fuel, and imposing stricter controls on internet connectivity. Chinese Assistant Minister of Public Security Liu Zhongy visited Mae Sot and Myawaddy twice in early 2025 to witness the crackdown firsthand.
More than 7,000 operators, mostly Chinese nationals, were released from these centers and sent across the border into Thailand for processing and repatriation. Chinese charter planes stood ready to transport their nationals back home to either face charges or, if fortunate, be treated as human trafficking victims, depending on interrogation outcomes.
The scam centers adapted to Thailand’s obstruction by acquiring massive generators capable of powering the 30 or so compounds dotting the Myanmar side of the Moei River, which serves as the natural border with Thailand. Starlink satellite systems replaced Thai internet service providers, while fuel became significantly more expensive—though nothing is truly unobtainable in this rugged corner of Southeast Asia, where warlords, drug barons, ethnic rebel militias, resistance forces, and Myanmar government troops compete for control.
Until February 2025, two commercial flights filled with Chinese tourists would arrive daily in Mae Sot from Bangkok. This border town, known primarily as a major cross-border trading hub between Thailand and Myanmar, served as the gateway to an open secret: these “tourists” were actually headed to casinos, brothels, entertainment complexes, karaoke bars, and unregulated online gambling operations on the Myanmar side. “They just have to remember to return before their Thai visas expire,” said a Thai police officer in Mae Sot.
The two flights are a thing of the past as Thai officials, in line with measures imposed on foreign nationals after Liu visited the region.
The US Institute of Peace estimated that by the end of 2023, the annual value of funds stolen worldwide by Chinese syndicates operating from Myanmar and other locations in mainland Southeast Asia reached approximately $64 billion.
In response to Chinese and Thai pressure, the DKBA and KNA/BGF quickly abandoned their profitable landlord arrangements and began rounding up scam operators. This started in February 2025 and continued for several months.
The strict measures following Liu’s two visits may have disrupted operations temporarily, but in reality they created a balloon effect: squeeze one area and activity pops up elsewhere. Phayathonezu, an area controlled by the rebels near the Three Pagodas Pass opposite Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province, exemplifies how these illicit businesses are relocating from the Myawaddy area. Other syndicates maintained low profiles temporarily, planning to reemerge once attention subsided, while others moved deeper into the country.
The deportation of approximately 7,000 individuals since March 2025 damaged the illicit operations but didn’t eliminate them. While the two daily planeloads of Chinese nationals arriving in Mae Sot may have ended, these syndicates still operate cyber scam centers generating substantial income.
“Chinese businesses rent these complexes and convert them into entertainment and gambling outlets that operate in a gray area—not exactly illegal but certainly unregulated. However, portions of these complexes are designated specifically for online scamming operations,” explained a plainclothes Thai police officer in Mae Sot who has a front-row view of these illicit activities.
“The Karen militias controlling the area—whether they have ceasefire agreements with the Myanmar government, like the Karen National Army (KNA) and the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), or the Karen National Union (KNU), which is still fighting the government—none of them want scrutiny of what these Chinese businesses are actually doing,” said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“They collect substantial rent money, and villagers in areas under their control gain employment. Thai people also benefit from their presence.” He pointed to the heightening of real estate prices around Mae Sot, saying being a merely stop-over has its benefits.
Last week’s attack on a portion of KK Park failed to convince observers, despite generating some international headlines when roughly 1,000 foreign nationals fled the park into Myawaddy and across to the Thai side of the border. Unfortunately for the Myanmar government, the incident generated little interest among ASEAN leaders, who were preoccupied with hosting US President Donald Trump, who had come to Malaysia to witness the signing of a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia.
More significantly, according to a member of the DKBA militia group, the Myanmar military’s advance into KK Park disrupted the existing arrangements between Chinese crime syndicates and their respective landlords—namely the KNA, DKBA, and KNU.
“The offensive against KK Park created considerable anxiety among these Chinese syndicates, who never move around this part of Myanmar without security details,” said a DKBA officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“While the Karen groups receive rent and certain benefits from these Chinese syndicates in exchange for broad protection guarantees, it’s the armed bodyguards and security personnel who provide the immediate defensive line for these Chinese bosses and managers. Not all these guards are ethnically Chinese, but they are fluent in Chinese,” he added.
Myanmar was able to advance on KNU positions in recent months and weeks because the BGF/KNA assisted them, according to the Thai officer.
The KNA is a 7,000-strong force led by Col. Chit Thu, a Karen warlord with extensive business interests and connections throughout Myanmar and Thailand.
One observer of the situation along the Thailand-Myanmar border suggested that Chit Thu is no longer satisfied with merely collecting rent—he wants a direct share of profits from these scam centers, according to a source with direct dealings with ethnic armed organizations in Myanmar.
The DKBA, a much smaller outfit with just over 1,000 troops, might outlive its usefulness as a member of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement if the Myanmar government sees no reason to maintain the relationship. Fortunately for the DKBA, the recent attack on the KNU’s 6th Brigade and incursion into KK Park did little to change international perception of Myanmar’s military government.
“If the world viewed the Myanmar junta as the good guys, they wouldn’t have stopped at the KNU 6th Brigade—they would have targeted a low-hanging fruit like the DKBA,” said the Thai police officer in Mae Sot.
Don Pathan is a Thailand-based development professional and security analyst.
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