familiaming

China executed 11 members of a notorious mafia family that ran scam operations in Myanmar, along its northeastern border, according to state media.

The members of the Ming family were convicted in September of various crimes, including homicide, illegal detention, fraud, and operating gambling houses, by a court in China's Zhejiang province.

The Mings were one of many clans that controlled the city of Laukkaing, transforming a impoverished and isolated urban area into a vibrant center of casinos and red-light districts.

Their scam empire collapsed in 2023 when they were arrested and handed over to China by ethnic militias that had taken control of Laukkaing during an escalation of their conflict with the Myanmar army.

With these executions, Beijing is sending a deterrent message to potential scammers. But the business has now shifted to the border between Myanmar and Thailand, and to Cambodia and Laos, where China has much less influence.

According to United Nations estimates, hundreds of thousands of people have fallen victim to human trafficking to carry out online fraud in Myanmar and other places in Southeast Asia.

Among them are thousands of Chinese, and their victims, who are defrauded out of billions of dollars, are also primarily Chinese.

Frustrated by the Myanmar army's refusal to put an end to the scam business, from which it was allegedly benefiting, Beijing tacitly supported an offensive by an ethnic insurgent alliance in Shan State in late 2023.

#chinaming #familiaming #Myanmar