January 29, 2026 | 05:01 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - China has executed 11 people who were convicted of being part of criminal gangs in Myanmar, including "key members" of telecom fraud operations, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.
The 11 were found guilty and sentenced to death in September by a court in Wenzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang province, Xinhua news agency said.
Executed for Murder, Illegal Detention, Fraud and Gambling
The executed criminals included members of the "Ming family criminal group," state media said.
They were sentenced to death "for crimes including intentional homicide, intentional injury, illegal detention, fraud and operating gambling establishments," Xinhua reported.
The 11 criminals had been found guilty of having "established multiple operational bases in Myanmar to engage in telecom fraud, operate illegal gambling dens and commit other crimes" in operations dating back to 2015.
According to the Supreme People's Court (SPC), which reviewed the case after the 11 defendants appealed the verdict, the funds involved in the fraud operations and gambling exceeded 10 billion yuan (around €1.2 billion or $1.4 billion).
"The gangs also intentionally murdered, assaulted, and illegally detained people involved in fraud, resulting in the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and causing injuries to others," Xinhua reported.
What Do We Know About the Scam Compounds in Southeast Asia?
Scam compounds have thrived in Southeast Asian neighbors Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, particularly in the latter's lawless border areas.
The scam centers, which are part of a multibillion-dollar illegal industry, are usually staffed by foreigners, including Chinese nationals.
Many of them claim they were trafficked and forced to work at the centers, scamming people online.
In recent years, Beijing has increased its collaboration with Southeast Asian countries to clamp down on the scam centers.
According to crime experts, most of the compounds are operated by Chinese crime syndicates collaborating with militias in Myanmar.
Tens of thousands of people have been repatriated to China as a result of the crackdown.
In 2025, over 7,600 Chinese citizens suspected of telecom fraud and online gambling were repatriated from the Myanmar town of Myawaddy, on the southeastern border with Thailand.
This month, Chinese tycoon Chen Zhi was extradited to China from Cambodia. The US accuses Zhi of having run the Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia's largest conglomerates that the US says served as a front for "one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations."
In April, the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime warned that the cyberscam industry was proliferating globally and that hundreds of thousands of people were estimated to be working in scam centers around the world.
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