Myanmar junta raids scam hub powered by Elon Musk’s Starlink

Name: Elon Musk’s Starlink appears to be fuelling Myanmar scam hub
Uploaded: 2025-10-20T04:26:10.000Z
Description: Elon Musk’s Starlink appears to be fuelling Myanmar scam hub

Troops seized 30 illegal Starlink sets and found 2,200 workers in the notorious KK Park, central to a US$37 billion regional fraud wave

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The KK Park complex in Myanmar’s eastern Myawaddy township, as pictured from Mae Sot district in Thailand. Photo: AFP

Agence France-Presse

Published: 12:26pm, 20 Oct 2025Updated: 1:03pm, 20 Oct 2025

Myanmar’s junta raided one of the country’s most notorious internet scam centres and seized Starlink devices, it said on Monday, after an investigation had revealed an explosion in their use in the multibillion-dollar illicit industry.

Internet sweat shops where workers scam unsuspecting foreigners with business or romance schemes have thrived in war-ravaged Myanmar’s lawless border regions since the coronavirus pandemic shut down casinos operating in the area.

A crackdown by Thai, Chinese and Myanmar authorities starting in February saw thousands of suspected scammers repatriated. Experts say some in the scam industry participate willingly while others are forced to by organised criminal groups.

Elon Musk’s Starlink appears to be fuelling Myanmar scam hub

An investigation earlier this month revealed rapid new construction at scam centre sites and devices using Elon Musk-owned satellite internet service Starlink being installed on their roofs.

State media The Global New Light of Myanmar said the military “conducted operations in KK Park near the Myanmar-Thai border” and had “seized 30 sets of Starlink receivers and accessories”.

That number is only a fraction of the Starlink devices that had been identified using satellite imagery and drone photography. On the roof of one building alone in KK Park, images showed nearly 80 of the internet dishes.

A view of the KK Park complex people on a balcony of a building with what appears to be Starlink satellite dishes on it’s on September 17. Photo: AFP

Starlink, which is not licensed in Myanmar, did not have enough traffic to make it onto the list of the country’s internet providers before the sweeping February crackdown.

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