Scamland Myanmar: How Conflict and Crime Built a Global Fraud Industry
ASPI | Conflict-affected regions like Myanmar often act as safe havens for transnational organized crime, with state actors playing a role in their growth.
Criminal networks often operate with impunity, fueling regional conflict and economies. They exploit and capitalize on law-enforcement gaps. In some cases, they integrate into the wartime economy through collaboration with state authorities.
What’s Happening in Myanmar?
In a new report, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) outlines what’s happening as Myanmar becomes a haven for transnational organized crime groups.
This size of the industry poses a significant international threat.
Transnational organized crime syndicates operate and construct large and complex scam centers and are actively involved in fraud-based scamming, money laundering, and human trafficking.
The crimes threaten not only trafficked and scam victims, but the social and economic development of the region.
The schemes have been thoroughly integrated into Myanmar’s conflict economy, with the ruling Burmese junta permitting and facilitating scam projects to enrich military allies. Many groups are orchestrating the scams, particularly non-state groups allied with the Burmese junta, along with the mainly Chinese criminal syndicates that directly run the facilities.
Read the article and get the full report from ASPI: Scamland Myanmar: how conflict and crime syndicates built a global fraud industry