Over 1 000 flee Myanmar after scam hub raid

MORE than 1 000 people, mostly Chinese, have fled from Myanmar into Thailand this week, Thai authorities said yesterday, after the Myanmar military raided one of the country’s largest scam centres.

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Sprawling cyberscam hubs, where fraudsters swindle victims through online cons, have flourished along Myanmar’s loosely governed border during its years-long civil war.

While some scammers are trafficked into the often-fortified compounds, experts say others work voluntarily, hoping to earn more in the multibillion-dollar illicit industry than they can at home.

Thailand’s Tak provincial office said 1 049 people had crossed from Myanmar into Mae Sot district from Wednesday to yesterday morning — up from the 677 who had fled the KK Park scam compound as of Thursday morning.