The crackdown on Asia’s scam compounds
Cybercrime is almost as old as the internet. Russia, Nigeria, Eastern Europe, and China all host sophisticated networks of cybercriminals. But in recent years, one region has become the global hub of industrial-style online scams: southeast Asia.
In Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines, and, most of all, Myanmar, sprawling compounds with thousands of workers—some estimates say over 200,000 people in total —are dedicated to scamming people around the world out of their money. Some of those workers go voluntarily and make a salary. But many others are victims of human trafficking, trapped there and forced into meeting aggressive quotas, their passports confiscated, unable to leave. The scam compounds are run by sophisticated criminal enterprises. Governments in the area have either protected them or turned a blind eye to their activities.
For a time, this type of online scamming was just a nuisance. But since the pandemic, the scammers have perfected their craft. They now use deepfake videos, elaborate video conferencing backgrounds, artificial intelligence, and convincing-looking websites to get even sophisticated people to hand over their money.
In 2023, the president of a bank in the American state of Kansas fell victim to a scammer, losing $47 million of his customers’ money in a cryptocurrency scam. The United States says $16 billion was lost to scammers in 2024. But that’s surely an understatement, since many victims don’t report the crime.
The scammers are now a victim of their own success. Whereas before they were able to fly under the radar, they are now so lucrative that the world’s biggest governments are taking notice.
A few years ago, China started to put pressure on its neighbors in the region. Its own citizens were losing money to clever scams. But Chinese citizens were also being kidnapped and forced to work at the scam centers in other countries.
In January 2025, Chinese actor Wang Xing was lured by a fake acting job in Thailand. Like many other Chinese citizens, he was held against his will, trafficked across the border into Myanmar, and forced to work inside a scam compound. He was rescued a few days later, but the incident hit home for many Chinese. If a famous actor could be kidnapped by the scammers, then no one is safe.
Then, in late 2025, the United States raised the stakes. Several government agencies formed a “Scam Center Strike Force” that will target scam compounds. The U.S. now considers scammers to be transnational organized crime, not just a consumer fraud nuisance.
The governments of southeast Asia have taken notice and started to cooperate. Thailand has started cutting off electricity, internet, and fuel supplies to Myanmar border areas with scam compounds. Cambodia and the Philippines have executed raids, often making arrests and sometimes freeing workers held hostage inside. They’ve also extradited high-profile scam bosses to face punishment in China.
But the world’s capital of online scams—Myanmar—doesn’t have a stable government. Ever since a coup in 2021, the country of 55 million people has been ruled by a patchwork of rebel groups and militias. Scam bosses have used the power vacuum to build “scam cities” near the Thai border—protected by armed groups and largely beyond the reach of normal policing.
It turns out, though, that even armed rebel groups have their limits. The Karen National Liberation Army, or the KNLA, is an insurgent force that operates in an area along the border with Thailand. This is where many major scam compounds have developed. And the leader of the KNLA recently said, “We do not like that our land is known as the place where criminals cheat people.”
The KNLA has taken some high-profile actions against scammers. It recently shut down Shunda Park, a scam compound that was less than two years old. Over 3,000 people from about 30 nations worked there—some had signed up voluntarily, while others had been kidnapped and forced into scam labor. The compound is now empty: thousands of discarded cell phones stacked in laundry baskets, rows upon rows of computer monitors dark, SIM cards littering the floors.
Myanmar’s military government has also taken action against scammers, targeting perhaps the most infamous compound in the world, KK Park. This compound is over 200 hectares, and had row upon row of multi-story buildings used as dormitories and offices. At its peak, over 20,000 people worked there.
The military says it has shut down KK Park. As proof, it theatrically blew up several buildings in the compound, and broadcast the explosions on state television. They even set up computers in a large parking lot and ran a steamroller over them. The message was unmistakable: the Myanmar military government, too, is cracking down on scammers.
The message may have been unmistakable, but the truth is quite a bit more complicated.
Some analysts say the crackdown is not intended to shut down the scam industry; it’s just a publicity stunt to relieve international pressure. Others say that governments in the region are powerless to control the scam compounds. And some say that these scammers make so much money, and have so much power, that local governments can’t stop them.
Besides, new scam compounds can pop up as quickly as the existing ones are shut down. When one compound is shut down, or blown up, bosses just set up shop in some other place. Voluntary workers say the pay is good: they’ll just go to the next office whenever it’s up and running.
Western journalists that gained access to Shunda Park said that former workers were lingering around, and openly said they were looking for more work in the scam industry.
Jeff’s take
On the inside, scam compounds look like any office building; they look just like a call center. There are rows and rows of desks and computer monitors. There are motivational messages like, “Keep going” and “Dream chaser.”
But then there are laundry baskets full of cell phones, thousands of cell phones. SIM cards are all over the floor. There are rooms dedicated to video conferencing, with bookshelves filled with business books. There are photos everywhere—photos of beautiful women, photos of people who look like they could be successful investors.
In one room, there was a Chinese gong. Any time workers would scam someone out of $5,000 they would hit the gong. Any time they got $50,000, they’d hit a large drum in celebration.
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