Mizzima/RFA-Oct 15
Myanmar junta authorities have charged more than 450 people in connection with cybercrime after their arrest in an online scam center near the Chinese border, sources close to military authorities told Radio Free Asia on Friday. Northeastern Myanmar’s Shan state has seen a proliferation of online gambling and scam centers, many run by Chinese gangsters, law enforcement organizations say. China has been pressing authorities in Myanmar for the past year to crack down on the fraud gangs, and Myanmar authorities arrested nearly 750 people, including more than 240 Chinese nationals, in raids in the town of Muse, near the Chinese border on Sept. 23 and 24. A source close to military authorities said 262 Myanmar men and 195 Myanmar women had been charged under the Communications Act, which came as a surprise as authorities had in the past usually let Myanmar people picked up in raids go free. “Myanmar citizens were released in the past but now everyone was charged under the Communications Law,” said the source. Those charged with violating the Communications Law may face up to two years in prison. As well as extensive scam operations in Myanmar, there has also been an explosion of fraud centers in Laos and Cambodia. University of Texas researchers estimated in a March report that in all, the centers had tricked investors out of more than US$75 billion since January 2020. China has turned to both junta authorities and its insurgent enemies, who control increasingly large areas in Shan state, for help in tackling the gangs. Read more at: https://eng.mizzima.com/2024/10/15/15077#google_vignette
