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Agence France-Presse

Hundreds of exhausted young men lie in an open-sided detention centre in a seedy Myanmar border town, sweating through thick tropical heat by day and prey to clouds of mosquitoes by night.
They are among some 7,000 people from more than two dozen countries released from scam compounds who are now enduring a gruelling wait to be sent home through Thailand.
Conditions in the overcrowded temporary camp in the town of Myawaddy, near the Thai border, were squalid and those held there were begging to leave.
“It’s really no good,” one 18-year-old Malaysian man said, adding the toilets and showers were so dirty they were unusable.
“I hope I can contact my parents quickly so I can go.”
A Chinese detainee, who gave his family name as Wang, said he was “very happy” at the prospect of getting out.
“I can finally escape this hell … China is the safest,” he said.
Scam centres have sprang up in Myanmar’s lawless border areas in recent years as part of a criminal industry worth billions of dollars a year.
Thousands of foreign workers staff the centres, trawling social media for victims to fleece, often through romance or investment cons.
Many workers said they were trafficked or tricked into taking the work and suffer beatings and abuse, though the government in China – where most come from – regards them as criminal suspects.


Under heavy pressure from Beijing, Myanmar’s junta and allied militias have taken action to curb the centres.
The “crackdown” has so far involved armed uniformed men coming to the sites and asking for volunteers to leave and go home, several freed workers said in Myawaddy.
But processing the workers for repatriation has been slow, leaving them trapped in limbo, smoking and playing cards to pass the time in the detention facility, which has a roof but no walls to keep the elements and insects out.
Many had their passports confiscated by scam centre bosses, and some said their mobile phones were taken away.
An Indian man, who was tricked into working in the scam centres after applying for a data entry job in Thailand, said he had contacted his embassy in Bangkok several times.
He begged them “help me, help me, help me. But no one helps me,” he said.
“The feeling is not good because we are in trouble right now.”
Myanmar’s raging civil war has complicated efforts to tackle the scam compounds, as most are in areas outside the ruling junta’s control.
The Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), an independent militia allied to the junta, controls two of the most notorious scam towns, Myawaddy and Shwe Kokko.
The BGF released thousands from illegal scam compounds last week and wants to swiftly deport them to neighbouring Thailand for repatriation, saying it is struggling to cope with looking after so many people.
“People have to stay in cramped conditions,” said its spokesman Naing Maung Zaw.
“We have to cook three meals to feed thousands of people and arrange their healthcare,” he said, adding he was worried about a possible outbreak of contagious diseases.

The United Nations estimates that as many as 120,000 people – many of them Chinese men – may be working in Myanmar scam centres against their will.
Gangs that run the compounds lure people with promises of high-paying jobs, then force them to defraud people from around the world or face severe punishment and abuse.
The sites on the Thai-Myanmar border vary in how they treat their staff, analysts said, and Thai officials have claimed that a majority of workers go there intentionally.
Victims released from smaller compounds claim that as a more sophisticated operation, Shwe Kokko – one of the area’s biggest scam hubs – draws more people who willingly go there to commit fraud.
But “not everyone living in Shwe Kokko is a criminal,” Naing Maung Zaw said.
A Chinese man surnamed Shen denied allegations that the scam centre workers had travelled to Myanmar intentionally, saying he had been tricked and forced.
“If I did it voluntarily, I would take all legal responsibilities,” he said.
But so far China has treated all returning detainees – 600 were sent back last week – as suspects, with state TV showing them marched off the plane in handcuffs by police on their return home.
Thailand, Myanmar and China are expected to hold three-way talks in the coming weeks to arrange logistics for further repatriations, with Thailand saying it is working with over a dozen foreign embassies.
One of 14 detained Pakistani men who hoped to return before Ramadan said he felt abandoned by authorities after hearing of other repatriations.
“We know we’re safe now. But it’s been eight days. So why can’t we go to Thailand now?” he said.
Stretched for resources to look after the hundreds of foreigners in their charge, Naing Maung Zaw pleaded to foreign embassies to “come and take your nationals … They want to go home.”


Malaysian forced to scam Hongkongers recalls year-long nightmare in Myanmar

Why China is Myanmar’s only real hope

Malaysia’s Anwar says Asean to assess Myanmar after ‘premature’ polls

Myanmar pro-military party claims big lead in disputed junta-run poll: ‘election not credible’

Myanmar

Freed Myanmar scam workers desperate to go home: ‘I can finally escape this hell’

Scam centre workers sit on the ground during a raid at the KK Park complex in Myanmar’s Myawaddy township on February 26. Photo: AFP


A militia member guards scam centre workers and victims in Myawaddy. Photo: AFP

China and Thailand join forces to tackle multibillion-dollar scam crisis in Myanmar

A man escorted by Thai soldiers ahead of flight to China. Photo: Khu Sam

Thai soldiers at Mae Sot airport ahead of transfer of alleged Chinese scam workers on February 20 to charter flight to China. Photo: Khu Sam

Saw Chit Thu, leader of the Karen Border Guard Force, speaks to reporters in Myawaddy, Myanmar, on February 17, 2025. Photo: Kyodo

After power cuts to Myanmar scam farms, Malaysians ask for more to be done to get family home

A view of Kyauk Khet in Myanmar’s Kayin state is seen from Thailand’s Phop Phra district in Tak province along the Thai-Myanmar border on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Alleged victims of scam centres board a boat to cross the river on the Myanmar-Thai border to be met by Thai Army soldiers as they are repatriated from Kyauk Khet in Myawaddy in Myanmar’s Kayin state on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

A view of Shwe Kokko town in Myanmar’s Myawaddy district in Kayin state is seen from Thailand’s Mae Sot district in Tak province on Tuesday. Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have become major hubs for online scam operations. Photo: AFP

Thailand shuts power to Myanmar’s scam hub, PM Paetongtarn vows firm action

Thai Deputy PM Anutin Charnvirakul (centre) speaks on the shutdown of power supplies to alleged scam operations across the Thai-Myanmar border. Photo: EPA-EFE

Shwe Kokko city from Thailand’s side of the border. Thailand has suspended electricity supply to some border areas with Myanmar in an effort to curb scam centres. Photo: Reuters

Chinese actor Wang Xing (right) with Thai police last month after he was rescued from a scam park in Myanmar near the Thai-Myanmar border. Photo: AP

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

About 7,000 people endure heat and mosquito bites at a squalid camp in Myawaddy as repatriation process slows


About 7,000 people endure heat and mosquito bites at a squalid camp in Myawaddy as repatriation process slows.


Thailand

Scams and swindles

Southeast Asia forced-labour scams

Crime

Freed Myanmar scam workers desperate to go home: ‘I can finally escape this hell’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}About 7,000 people endure heat and mosquito bites at a squalid camp in Myawaddy as repatriation process slows

About 7,000 people endure heat and mosquito bites at a squalid camp in Myawaddy as repatriation process slows