Notorious Online Fraud Center Associated with China-based Underworld Stormed

The Burmese armed forces states it has taken control of one of the most well-known deception facilities on the border with Thailand, as it reclaims crucial land previously lost in the ongoing civil war.

KK Park, located south of the frontier settlement of Myawaddy, has been linked with online fraud, financial crime and human trafficking for the previous five-year period.

Numerous individuals were lured to the compound with promises of lucrative jobs, and then forced to operate sophisticated scams, stealing countless millions of money from affected individuals all over the world.

The armed forces, long compromised by its connections to the scam business, now declares it has occupied the complex as it increases dominance around Myawaddy, the main economic link to Thailand.

In recent weeks, the military has pushed back rebels in various areas of Myanmar, attempting to expand the number of locations where it can conduct a scheduled vote, commencing in December.

It still doesn't control large swathes of the state, which has been divided by hostilities since a government overthrow in February 2021.

The election has been disregarded as a fake by opposition forces who have vowed to block it in territories they occupy.

KK Park started with a rental contract in the beginning of 2020 to build an industrial park between the Karen National Union (KNU), the armed ethnic group which governs much of this region, and a unfamiliar Hong Kong listed firm, Huanya International.

Researchers suspect there are relationships between Huanya and a prominent Asian underworld personality Wan Kuok Koi, more commonly called Broken Tooth, who has later invested in other fraud centers on the border.

The complex grew swiftly, and is easily noticeable from the Thai border of the boundary.

Those who succeeded to get away from it describe a harsh regime imposed on the numerous individuals, several from Africa-based nations, who were confined there, made to operate long hours, with abuse and beatings inflicted on those who did not manage to achieve targets.

A announcement by the regime's information ministry stated its troops had "cleared" KK Park, liberating more than 2,000 employees there and confiscating 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite terminals – commonly used by scam hubs on the Thai-Myanmar boundary for online operations.

The statement blamed what it described as the "terrorist" Karen National Union and volunteer resistance groups, which have been opposing the junta since the coup, for wrongfully holding the territory.

The junta's claim to have dismantled this well-known scam hub is probably targeted toward its primary patron, China.

Beijing has been urging the military and the Thailand administration to take additional measures to terminate the criminal operations managed by China-based syndicates on their common boundary.

In previous months thousands of Asian workers were extracted of deception facilities and sent on special flights back to China, after Thailand cut supply to electricity and petroleum supplies.

But KK Park is only one of a minimum of 30 similar compounds located on the frontier.

The majority of these are under the protection of local militia groups allied to the junta, and many are still functioning, with tens of thousands managing scams inside them.

In actuality, the backing of these militia groups has been crucial in enabling the military push back the KNU and further opposition factions from territory they took control of over the previous 24 months.

The junta now controls almost all of the road joining Myawaddy to the other parts of Myanmar, a target the junta established before it conducts the opening round of the vote in December.

It has taken Lay Kay Kaw, a recent settlement created for the KNU with Japanese funding in 2015, a period when there had been hopes for enduring stability in the Karen region following a nationwide truce.

That represents a more important defeat to the KNU than the takeover of KK Park, from which it received some funds, but where the bulk of the financial benefits ended up with regime-supporting armed groups.

A knowledgeable source has suggested that fraud operations is persisting in KK Park, and that it is possible the armed forces took control of merely a section of the large-scale compound.

The contact also thinks Beijing is providing the Burmese junta lists of Asian persons it wants taken from the fraud facilities, and sent back to be prosecuted in China, which may clarify why KK Park was targeted.