Myanmar’s military government has claimed that “special operations” carried out over the past two years have led to the repatriation of more than 70,000 foreign nationals who were allegedly forced to work in online scam centers across the country’s border regions. The announcement comes amid growing international scrutiny of Myanmar’s role in hosting some of Southeast Asia’s most notorious cybercrime hubs, where victims have been trafficked, tortured, and coerced into running sophisticated fraud schemes targeting people around the world.

According to Myanmar authorities, these operations focused on dismantling infrastructure linked to large scam compounds, particularly in Kayin State’s Myawaddy Township, home to infamous enclaves such as KK Park and Shwe Kokko. Officials said demolition campaigns have destroyed hundreds of buildings allegedly used for cybercrime, online gambling, and related money-laundering activities, signaling what the junta describes as a renewed effort to crack down on transnational criminal networks operating along the Thai-Myanmar border.

The region has become a focal point for so-called “pig-butchering” scams, a form of long-con investment fraud that often begins with romance or social media catfishing and escalates into large-scale financial deception. Victims of these scams are spread across Asia, Europe, and North America, while those forced to operate them are often migrants trafficked from countries such as China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and beyond.

Human rights groups and investigative journalists have documented harrowing conditions inside these scam centers. Workers have reported being lured by promises of legitimate employment, only to find themselves imprisoned behind barbed wire and guarded by armed men. Survivors describe 17-hour workdays, constant surveillance, physical abuse, electric shocks, and........

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