Scam centres in Myanmar blown up. But is it all for show?

Scam workers say they have moved to other compounds to continue to defraud people

- Sui-Lee Wee

For a compound that hosted one of the largest cyber-scam and human trafficking hubs in Southeast Asia, KK Park operated in plain sight.

It was pretty clear that this was no ordinary business — the heavily fortified compound in Myanmar was flanked by armed guards, and it was all visible from neighbouring Thailand.

The vast complex, estimated to be around 210ha, contained high-rise buildings, dormitories, offices, restaurants, a hospital and villas, suggesting an industrial-scale operation in the town of Myawaddy.

Last week, some of the activity abruptly ended.

The Myanmar junta moved in to detain thousands of foreigners at KK Park and Shwe Kokko, another notorious cyberscam hub.

For good measure, it also deployed a stunning tactic: demolishing entire buildings with explosives, part of what the junta has called a broader crackdown on scam centres.

But workers and experts say the crackdown is performative.

Satellite imagery shows that only 13 per cent of the total area of KK Park has been demolished, according to Mr Nathan Ruser, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

The Myanmar junta said it was committed to destroying the more than 500 buildings that remain, but workers say they have moved on to other compounds, where they continue to defraud people.