A powerful blow to the digital resources of criminals is designed to eradicate lawlessness throughout the region.
A coalition of rebel groups in Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country bordering Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Laos and China, recently successfully took control of the city of Laukkai, known as a major center of cyber fraud in the region that has plagued countries including those bordering Myanmar.
"Operation 1027" began in late October 2023 with the goal of liberating the people from the military junta that came to power in Myanmar in 2021. On the evening of January 4, the government handed over control of the entire Kokan region, which includes the troubled city of Laukkai, to the Three Brotherhood Alliance.
Since the beginning of the operation, the rebel coalition has clearly outlined its goal — to eradicate organized fraudulent operations that spread under the strict supervision of local law enforcement officers loyal to the ruling junta.
"In order to root out telecommunications fraud, rogue dens and their backers across the country, including the border areas of China and Myanmar, our coalition forces have decided to conduct this military operation," the rebels said at the start of their offensive.
This focus on combating fraud is probably an attempt to enlist the support of China, which is tired of attacks on its citizens in so-called Pig Butchering scams, in which users affected by online fraud become forced Internet scammers themselves. Human trafficking, which flourishes in this region, simply leaves victims with no other choice.
Over the weekend, junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing met with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Naypyidaw to discuss the common border and organized crime. "The two sides agreed to jointly maintain peace and stability on the China-Myanmar border, fight cross-border crime such as telecommunications fraud, and promote regional peace, tranquility, development and prosperity," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said after the meeting.
According to China's state-run media outlet China Daily, China's public security minister also held a virtual meeting with Myanmar's acting interior minister over the weekend, "where they promised to deepen cooperation in ensuring security and stability in border areas, especially by fighting telecommunications and online fraud."
In August 2023, the UN estimated that about 120,000 people were recruited in Myanmar to work in fraudulent operations. In January 2024, Chinese state media reported that over the past year, about 41 thousand people involved in telecommunications fraud in Myanmar were handed over to the Chinese authorities. It is not clear how many of the detainees were themselves victims of human trafficking, and not targeted cyber fraudsters, but there are more than enough such precedents in the region.
Cybersecurity experts warn that despite the success of the rebel military campaign, fraudulent operations may simply move to criminal enclaves in other parts of the country, especially along the borders with Thailand and Laos.
In an online New Year's message, Army Commander Peng Deren of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance, one of three allied rebel groups, said that these movements are already taking place. "Even when my army was advancing on the border, military helicopters were taking the leaders of the telecommunications fraud away," Deren said, adding that "four military families" who controlled the fraudulent operations in Kokan also fled to a prominent enclave near the Thai side.
A coalition of rebel groups in Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country bordering Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Laos and China, recently successfully took control of the city of Laukkai, known as a major center of cyber fraud in the region that has plagued countries including those bordering Myanmar.
"Operation 1027" began in late October 2023 with the goal of liberating the people from the military junta that came to power in Myanmar in 2021. On the evening of January 4, the government handed over control of the entire Kokan region, which includes the troubled city of Laukkai, to the Three Brotherhood Alliance.
Since the beginning of the operation, the rebel coalition has clearly outlined its goal — to eradicate organized fraudulent operations that spread under the strict supervision of local law enforcement officers loyal to the ruling junta.
"In order to root out telecommunications fraud, rogue dens and their backers across the country, including the border areas of China and Myanmar, our coalition forces have decided to conduct this military operation," the rebels said at the start of their offensive.
This focus on combating fraud is probably an attempt to enlist the support of China, which is tired of attacks on its citizens in so-called Pig Butchering scams, in which users affected by online fraud become forced Internet scammers themselves. Human trafficking, which flourishes in this region, simply leaves victims with no other choice.
Over the weekend, junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing met with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Naypyidaw to discuss the common border and organized crime. "The two sides agreed to jointly maintain peace and stability on the China-Myanmar border, fight cross-border crime such as telecommunications fraud, and promote regional peace, tranquility, development and prosperity," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said after the meeting.
According to China's state-run media outlet China Daily, China's public security minister also held a virtual meeting with Myanmar's acting interior minister over the weekend, "where they promised to deepen cooperation in ensuring security and stability in border areas, especially by fighting telecommunications and online fraud."
In August 2023, the UN estimated that about 120,000 people were recruited in Myanmar to work in fraudulent operations. In January 2024, Chinese state media reported that over the past year, about 41 thousand people involved in telecommunications fraud in Myanmar were handed over to the Chinese authorities. It is not clear how many of the detainees were themselves victims of human trafficking, and not targeted cyber fraudsters, but there are more than enough such precedents in the region.
Cybersecurity experts warn that despite the success of the rebel military campaign, fraudulent operations may simply move to criminal enclaves in other parts of the country, especially along the borders with Thailand and Laos.
In an online New Year's message, Army Commander Peng Deren of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance, one of three allied rebel groups, said that these movements are already taking place. "Even when my army was advancing on the border, military helicopters were taking the leaders of the telecommunications fraud away," Deren said, adding that "four military families" who controlled the fraudulent operations in Kokan also fled to a prominent enclave near the Thai side.
