Beijing’s Harshest Move Yet Against Cross-Border Cybercrime
Shenzhen — In one of its most severe judicial actions to date, China has sentenced five people to death for their roles in a violent cross-border criminal syndicate running vast cyber fraud operations out of Myanmar’s lawless borderlands.
The verdict, handed down by the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, marks a new phase in Beijing’s escalating campaign to dismantle the multibillion-dollar scam networks operating from Myanmar’s Kokang region, a hotspot for organized crime and digital fraud.
Serious Crimes and a High Human Toll
The court convicted the defendants on a range of capital offenses tied to their operations in the Kokang Special Region, where they managed sprawling “scam compounds” used for online fraud.
According to Chinese state media, the gang’s activities led to the deaths of six Chinese nationals, the suicide of one, and injuries to several others. Their criminal portfolio included:
- Telecom Fraud: Running sophisticated online scam operations targeting victims globally, particularly across China.
- Intentional Homicide and Injury: Violence and coercion within and beyond the compounds.
- Other Crimes: Illegal gambling, organizing and coercing prostitution, and facilitating illegal border crossings.
One of the defendants sentenced to death was also convicted of trafficking and manufacturing approximately 11 tonnes of methamphetamine, highlighting the group’s deep entanglement in regional drug networks.
The court revealed that the gang had established 41 separate compounds in Myanmar’s Kokang area to sustain its fraudulent enterprises.
The Crackdown on Myanmar’s “Scam Factories”
Beijing’s sweeping response reflects its increasing urgency to shut down what Chinese authorities describe as “scam factories” vast criminal compounds that rely on human trafficking and forced labor to run online fraud operations, including romance scams and investment cons known as “pig butchering.”
Many workers inside these compounds are Chinese nationals, tricked or trafficked across the border and then held captive under brutal conditions.
China has been exerting intense diplomatic pressure on Myanmar’s military junta to dismantle these operations. This joint crackdown has led to the arrest and repatriation of tens of thousands of suspected scam workers and trafficked victims back to China in recent months.
Additional Sentences and Wider Context
Alongside the five death sentences, the Shenzhen court also delivered a series of harsh punishments to other gang members:
- Two death sentences with two-year reprieves (often commuted to life imprisonment),
- Five life sentences, and
- Nine prison terms ranging from three to twenty years.
This verdict follows a similar ruling in late September, when another Chinese court sentenced 16 members of a family-run gang also based in Kokang to death for comparable crimes.
A Clear Message from Beijing
The latest ruling sends an unmistakable message: China is intensifying its fight against transnational cybercrime, human trafficking, and cross-border corruption.
By imposing the death penalty, Beijing aims to deter criminal syndicates operating beyond its borders and demonstrate its willingness to pursue justice even in the most complex, multinational cases.
As one legal analyst in Shenzhen put it, “This isn’t just about punishing individuals , it’s about reclaiming control over China’s digital and moral borders.”
With cyber scams continuing to evolve, China’s campaign against these Myanmar-based criminal networks shows no signs of slowing down.
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