Myanmar's Shan State Detains 759 Foreign Scam Suspects in Three Months: 502 Are Chinese Nationals and the Gangs Targeted Fellow Chinese
Data released by Myanmar's government show that Shan State's crackdown on online scam centres from August 1 to October 31, 2026, detained 759 foreign suspects, of whom 502 were Chinese nationals, more than six in ten. Myanmar outlet NP News and Kankanews both reported the figures on November 13.
According to the Myanmar disclosure, the gangs mainly targeted Chinese citizens, tailoring their scripts by victim: posing as romantic partners to younger people before inventing family emergencies to ask for money; impersonating public officials to intimidate older people; and building fake investment platforms for those seeking quick profits, paying out small early returns as bait before vanishing once large sums were in.
The gangs also used generative super intelligence (SI) face-swap and voice-changing tools to impersonate well-known entrepreneurs and officials while pitching fake investments, and even forged news websites and interview pages to look credible. Myanmar's investigation found that most of the suspects had entered the country illegally via transit points such as Thailand.
Scam compounds along Myanmar's borders remain a standing target of multinational enforcement. On November 12, the U.S. Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force charged two Chinese nationals who ran a Myanmar compound accused of cryptocurrency investment fraud, with more than $700 million in assets restrained.
Related: Follow-Up: Madagascar Dismantles 13 Scam Compounds, Hands 148 Chinese Nationals to China
(Source: Government of Myanmar)
Source: Government of Myanmar
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：缅甸妙瓦底水沟谷的电诈园区建筑群（资料图，非本次掸邦查获地点）。照片：Angshu2193 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: File photo of the Shwe Kokko scam compound buildings in Myawaddy, Myanmar (not a site of the Shan State arrests). Photo by Angshu2193, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-11-13Myanmar's Shan State Detains 759 Foreign Scam Suspects in Three Months: 502 Are Chinese Nationals and the Gangs Targeted Fellow ChineseThis story
