The 2021 military coup sparked a surge in illicit economies across Myanmar, and particularly in autonomous regions along its eastern border with Thailand and China, which are administered by groups maintaining cease-fires with the military or operating under its command.
The coup also coincided with the expansion of industrial-scale online fraud operations across Southeast Asia, after the pandemic forced Chinese syndicates operating in the region to search for new sources of income.
Today, Southeast Asia-based cyberscams generate tens of billions for criminal syndicates, according to research conducted by a United States Institute of Peace-led study group. It also found that the industry relies on hundreds of thousands of people, many of them trafficked and forced to scam.
This project will feature the stories and voices of people trafficked into the industry or held in exploitative labor conditions inside Myanmar, which is likely to be the world's largest online scamming hub. Reporting will zoom in on the city of Laukkai, where a coalition of ethnic armed organizations fighting against the junta drove out scamming syndicates.
Next, this project will look at the increasing globalization of the industry as China cracks down on scamming operations targeting its nationals. Finally, it will explore scamming syndicates' use of social media platforms to facilitate human trafficking and fraudulent activity on a massive scale.
