Scam center

The term fraud factory first appeared in a 2022 Sydney Morning Herald article about the Southeast Asian scams and human trafficking industry and was coined by Jan Santiago of the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO), a victims advocacy group, in describing scamming operations in the region. The term was used by Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the activity of trafficking victims to Asia where they use digital media to meet westerners and sell them cryptocurrencies. In Chinese, the term "fraud industrial park" (), sometimes shortened to 'park' (), has emerged in reference to these operations. == Organization and ownership ==

Fraud factories are often operated by Chinese and Taiwanese criminal syndicates based in Southeast Asia. Those who willingly collude with the syndicates include Thai and Cambodian individuals. The gang's traditional revenue stream of gambling reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and their activities increasingly focused on fraud factories thereafter to regain lost revenue. == Human trafficking victims ==

Between August and late September 2022, the Kenyan embassy in Thailand facilitated the rescue of 76 trafficking victims from Myanmar and Laos. Myanmar is also an emerging destination for international labour trafficking, especially along its border areas. Victims in Myanmar include nationals from throughout Asia, including mainland China, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Thailand. Victims are lured by the false promise of high-paying jobs, and are trafficked through major cities like Yangon and Bangkok, and transit points like Mae Sot and Chiang Rai. In 2023, Chinese and Myanmar authorities collaborated to arrest over 57,000 individuals involved in cybercrime as part of China's attempt to halt Chinese scam victims abroad. In May 2023, the Philippine Senate's Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality conducted an inquiry into the proliferation of illegal activities involving foreign nationals, including human trafficking and racketeering, within scam hubs in various points of the archipelago. Senator Risa Hontiveros presented videos and reports of recent raids made by Philippine law enforcement agencies on a number of commercial and residential properties in Clark, Pampanga, that resulted in the rescue of 1,300 victims and the confiscation of over ₱180 million in cash. By August, the committee discovered that many of these scam hubs had been "hiring" more locals than foreign nationals. In March 2024, more than 800 Filipinos and foreign nationals were rescued from a large scam hub in Bamban, Tarlac, after it was raided for alleged illegal activities that included crypto and love scams; the hub was legally registered as a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) firm. In August 2024, another 162 foreign nationals were rescued from scam hubs in Cebu illegally operating as POGOs. In January 2025, Chinese national Wang Xing was rescued from a scam center in Myanmar after his girlfriend publicized his case on the social network Weibo; he had been taken trafficked from Mae Sot, Thailand, and told the police that approximately 50 Chinese nationals were still being held at the same site where he had been detained. == Operations ==

by the banks of the Mekong River An anti-crime pact signed between Taipei and Beijing in 2009 led to more than 1,600 arrests of fraud suspects two years later, driving the remaining Taiwanese crime syndicates to countries in Southeast Asia. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in the number and activities of scam centers throughout Southeast Asia. In 2022, BBC News reported the locations of fraud factories as being in Laos and Myanmar, notably in Kachin where the Kachin conflict is occurring, a factor that makes rescues difficult. The trafficked victims are lured with job offers, with the BBC reporting one victim having traveled to Thailand for a job before being driven to Laos. On 5 January 2024, the alliance fully captured the city of Laukkai in Kokang from the Myanmar military, and soon more than 40,000 people involved in Kokang's fraud factories were returned to China. Analyst Jason Tower called their operation "extremely successful" in eradicating scam centers from Kokang, although some syndicates were able to move their operations to Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar's Kayin State. After increased internet service provider (ISP) blocking of VPNs in Myanmar, Starlink usage has surged in Myanmar, despite the service being unauthorized under Myanmar's Telecommunications Law. Starlink devices have become crucial for these cybercrime syndicates, especially after Thailand severed internet connections to Myanmar scam centers. According to Wired, "at least eight scam compounds based around the Myanmar-Thailand border region" use Starlink for their Internet connection either wholly or in part. In March 2024, the head of Interpol estimated that the combined revenues of Southeast Asian organized crime networks were $2 to $3 trillion per year, with a typical criminal organization making $50 billion per year. A 2024 study found that funds stolen by criminal syndicates based in Mekong countries likely exceeded $43.8 billion a year—nearly 40% of the combined formal GDP of Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, with a significant share of these profits flowing to the Myanmar military and to ruling elites in Cambodia and Laos. According to American government estimates, Americans lose about ten billion dollars annually to scam centers based in Southeast Asia. ==Defensive criminal actions==

Scam compounds are able to continue operating even though their locations are known, by bribing local law enforcement and politicians. == Destinations ==

, Cambodia. Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar in Southeast Asia are reported to host some notable scam centers. • Poipet • Bavet • : • Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone • : • Laukkai (on the border with China) • Myawaddy (on the border with Thailand) and nearby: • KK Park • Shwe Kokko • Mong La (on the border with China) == International reactions ==

discussing industrial-scale scam compounds in 2024. Instances of Taiwanese fraud suspects being unilaterally deported to China from other countries have drawn criticism by Taipei. Fraud convicts in Taiwan as of 2016 receive more lenient sentences than in China. In March 2021, the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security released the National Anti-Fraud Center app, which advertises that it can maintain telecommunications network security by blocking suspicious content and creating channels for reporting online fraud and raising awareness for fraud prevention. In November 2023, China issued arrest warrants for junta-aligned Ming Xuechang, and three other Ming family members for their involvement in online scamming operations. Ming later committed suicide. The other three were captured by Burmese authorities and handed over to China. 39 people involved in the Ming syndicate were sentenced in Zhejiang Province. 11 were sentenced to death. In August 2024, the secretary of the Philippines' Department of Migrant Workers said that Philippine authorities will "get the statements of the [Filipino] victims [of the fraud factories in Laos] to pinpoint who recruited them [...] in the Philippines and file the necessary charges.” In October 2025, during the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, the President of South Korea and the Prime Minister of Cambodia agreed to establish a joint task force to combat online scam networks that disproportionately targeted South Korean nationals. The task force was intended to include law-enforcement collaboration and intelligence sharing to address increasingly transnational online fraud and related crimes affecting citizens of both countries. In November 2025, Japan publicly pledged support to Cambodia in its efforts to combat online scam networks and technology-based fraud. During a meeting on November 12 between Chhay Sinarith, head of the Secretariat of the Commission for Combating Online Scams (CCOS), and Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia Ueno Atsushi, both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in security cooperation, information sharing, capacity building, and broader collaborative actions to address the transnational nature of online scams. Ambassador Ueno commended Cambodia’s commitment to tackling scam operations and said Japan would continue cooperation in these efforts. == See also ==