{"id":8319,"date":"2025-11-18T22:21:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T15:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/?p=8319"},"modified":"2025-11-18T22:21:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T15:51:36","slug":"bgf-and-the-junta-intensify-crackdown-on-kyar-phyant-scam-syndicates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/2025\/11\/bgf-and-the-junta-intensify-crackdown-on-kyar-phyant-scam-syndicates\/","title":{"rendered":"BGF and the Junta Intensify Crackdown on \u201cKyar Phyant\u201d Scam Syndicates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Myanmar Spring Chronicle \u2013 November 17 View<\/strong>
(MoeMaKa, November 18, 2025)<\/em><\/p>\n

BGF and the Junta Intensify Crackdown on \u201cKyar Phyant\u201d Scam Syndicates<\/strong><\/p>\n

After both the junta and the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF)<\/strong> \u2014 one of the armed groups previously accused of protecting cyber-scam syndicates \u2014 declared their intent to launch \u201cfinal operations\u201d to eliminate these networks, videos emerged on the night of November 17<\/strong> showing hundreds of workers fleeing Shwe Kokko<\/strong> in Myawaddy Township.<\/p>\n

In recent days, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing<\/strong>, visiting Mawlamyine<\/strong> in Mon State and Hpa-An<\/strong> in Karen State, publicly vowed to \u201ceradicate\u201d the Kyar Phyant<\/em> scam networks. On the same day, BGF spokesman Col. Naing Maung Zaw<\/strong>, whose group was formerly a junta-aligned border guard and rebranded last year as the Karen National Army (KNA)<\/strong>, told Thai and Myanmar media that they would launch a final military operation<\/strong> against the scam compounds.<\/p>\n

Within hours of those statements, videos surfaced showing vehicles and crowds packing the streets of Shwe Kokko<\/strong>, with people fleeing en masse from the scam compounds \u2014 suggesting that operators and foreign nationals were escaping before any attack began. Analysts interpret the junta\u2019s and BGF\u2019s \u201cadvance warning\u201d announcements as effectively alerting Chinese ringleaders<\/strong> to relocate to safer zones inside Myanmar or across the border into Thailand.<\/p>\n

The wealthy Chinese masterminds behind these syndicates are believed to use their massive profits from online scams to bribe police, soldiers, and armed groups<\/strong>, securing safe passage and relocation. At the same time, many foreign victims<\/strong> enslaved in these compounds \u2014 forced into online fraud under confinement \u2014 may now have a chance to escape<\/strong> amid the disruption.<\/p>\n

Reports also say some Myanmar nationals<\/strong> who worked voluntarily in these operations for wages (not as trafficking victims) have fled to nearby towns and villages<\/strong> to avoid being caught up in raids.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first such \u201ccrackdown.\u201d Early this year, the BGF and DKBA<\/strong> raided scam compounds under their protection, detaining tens of thousands of foreign workers and repatriating them via Thailand, while arresting local facilitators.<\/p>\n

However, among those who fled then were both victims and perpetrators<\/strong>, mixing genuine trafficking survivors with scam criminals. Embassies of the affected countries screened and retrieved their nationals. That earlier operation was largely seen as a controlled, limited campaign<\/strong> \u2014 meant to appease international pressure from China<\/strong>, the U.S.<\/strong>, and others pushing for action against these crimes.<\/p>\n

Today, it remains unclear how far this new BGF\u2013junta \u201cfinal crackdown\u201d will actually go<\/strong>. The BGF, estimated to have around 7,000 troops<\/strong>, relies on taxation and border trade revenue<\/strong> to fund itself. Without such income \u2014 from tolls, border fees, or protection money \u2014 sustaining its operations is difficult.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the junta provides BGF troops with minimal salaries<\/strong>, insufficient for practical self-sufficiency. Historically, before the rise of the cyber-scam industry, these groups survived through drug trafficking and smuggling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For the junta, allowing such local armed groups to exist has long served a strategic purpose<\/strong>: using them as buffer forces<\/strong> and auxiliaries<\/strong> to counter ethnic political armies. Myanmar\u2019s civil war history is full of examples of successive regimes using militia and warlord-type units in this way.<\/p>\n

In Shan State, similar local warlords emerged in various forms \u2014 drug lords, militia leaders, and \u201cmini-kings\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 often tolerated by the central military as long as they helped maintain control. Throughout the civil war, the use of semi-legal, armed groups running illicit businesses has been a recurring model<\/strong> of Myanmar\u2019s internal conflict.<\/p>\n

Now, the Kyar Phyant<\/em> cyber-scam operations in Karen State have become a new chapter<\/strong> in that long history. Just as Myanmar\u2019s drug economy once became a global problem<\/strong>, these scam networks \u2014 initially a local and regional issue<\/strong> \u2014 have now expanded into an international crisis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For this reason, Myanmar\u2019s civil war is no longer a purely domestic affair<\/strong>. It has evolved into a regional and global problem<\/strong>, drawing in neighboring states and major powers alike \u2014 each with its own stake in how the criminal networks, and the conflicts that shelter them, are finally resolved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Myanmar Spring Chronicle \u2013 November 17 View(MoeMaKa, November 18, 2025) BGF and the Junta Intensify Crackdown on \u201cKyar Phyant\u201d Scam Syndicates After both the junta and the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) \u2014 one of the armed groups previously accused…<\/p>\n

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