China Executes Four Members of Notorious Scam Group from Myanmar
China has carried out the executions of four more people linked to one of the most powerful scam networks operating out of Myanmar.
The four were members or close associates of the Bai family, a crime dynasty that once dominated Laukkaing, a border town in Myanmar known for casinos, red-light districts and large-scale online scam operations. Chinese courts found them guilty of crimes including fraud, homicide and violent abuse, holding them responsible for the deaths of six Chinese citizens and injuries to others.
According to the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, the group ran gambling and telecom scam operations worth more than 29 billion yuan, or over $4 billion. Their activities were based in industrial-style compounds in Myanmar’s Kokang region, where authorities say victims and trafficked workers were subjected to kidnappings, extortion, forced prostitution and other abuse. In its statement, the court described the crimes as “exceptionally heinous”.
Five people from the Bai network were originally sentenced to death last November, but the group’s leader, Bai Suocheng, died of illness after his conviction. Appeals from the remaining defendants were later rejected by the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court.
The executions come just days after China announced it had put 11 members of the Ming family to death last week for running a separate scam syndicate in Myanmar that killed 14 people. For years, the Bai and Ming families, along with other clans, effectively controlled parts of Laukkaing, even maintaining their own militias while running dozens of scam compounds where violence and torture were reportedly routine.
Their downfall began in 2023, when Beijing grew increasingly frustrated with Myanmar’s failure to rein in scam centres that had trapped hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Chinese nationals forced to defraud victims online. China later backed an offensive by ethnic armed groups in the area, leading to the collapse of the scam empires and the handover of suspects to Chinese authorities.
Scam parks across Southeast Asia — particularly in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — have become a major international concern, drawing pressure from China, the United States and others. While Myanmar’s military government has publicly promoted raids and arrests, analysts say some actions have been more about easing diplomatic pressure than dismantling criminal networks.
With the latest executions, Beijing appears to be sending a clear warning to criminal groups still operating across the region, as it continues one of the world’s toughest campaigns against fraud and organized crime.
