Myanmar junta says demolishing 150 scam hub buildings

TDT | Yangon,

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Myanmar’s military said Sunday it was demolishing nearly 150 buildings in a crackdown on a notorious internet scam compound bordering Thailand -- including a gym, a spa and a karaoke parlour.

Sprawling fraud factories have boomed in war-torn Myanmar’s loosely governed border regions, housing workers targeting unsuspecting internet users with romance and business cons worth tens of billions of dollars annually.

Many workers are trafficked into the internet sweatshops, but others go willingly to the compounds which are often furnished with luxury amenities for criminal bosses and their high-earning staff.

Last month Myanmar’s military announced a raid on infamous scam centre KK Park -- discovering more than 2,000 scammers and sending 1,500 people fleeing over the border to Thailand.