Myanmar’s Brutalizing Scam Sector: What it Will Take to Turn the Tide
Three new studies reveal how global neglect and local desperation have fueled a vast online scam industry since Myanmar’s 2021 military coup—and why the world can’t ignore it any longer.
From crypto scams to “pig-butchering” schemes that wipe out life savings, online fraud has become a global epidemic. And what most victims don’t know is how many scam operations trace back to just a few countries gripped by crisis, especially Myanmar.
Four years after Myanmar’s military coup, repression, conflict and economic collapse have pushed millions to the edge—and created fertile conditions for organized crime. In this vacuum, a new industry has taken root: scam compounds that turn human desperation into deception, and deception into profit.
Together, three new studies by Myanmar researchers show how human trafficking, social media, and everyday fraud have fused into a transnational economy of deceit. They show how this dark sector preys on vulnerability, sustains organized crime, and cannot be dismantled from inside Myanmar alone. And we’ve been proud to convene this work alongside Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar, supported by International Development Research Centre and Global Affairs Canada.
Watch a short video on this groundbreaking research in Myanmar:
Scam Haven: Myanmar’s $37B fraud economy
Scam Haven is the most sweeping of the three studies. Produced by Myanmar Scam Watch, it traces how the country’s illicit economy—worth an estimated US $37 billion—has expanded despite periodic crackdowns.
The study shows how criminal networks, sometimes enabled by the military regime, have turned border regions into hubs for cyber fraud. Thousands find themselves lured or trafficked into these compounds, from as far away as Africa, through false job ads or debt bondage. Once inside—phones confiscated, movements restricted—they’re forced to scam people worldwide, often under threat of violence.
Scam farms are becoming institutionalized in Myanmar, with standardized training and management methods. They’re also growing resilient: when large operations face crackdowns, they simply disperse into smaller sites. And the scamming model pioneered here by Chinese gangs is now being copied by Burmese groups and ethnic armed organizations.
Scam Haven also flags a trend toward young locals entering the scam trade voluntarily, driven by poverty and the collapse of legitimate opportunity. It warns that this mix of coercion and consent makes the crisis harder to confront—and that, without coordinated international action, the cycle will only deepen.
Listen to one of the authors of Scam Haven describing their groundbreaking research on Myanmar’s scam compounds:
Hooked by Hope: Social media as a recruiting tool
If Scam Haven shows how exploitation is organized, Hooked by Hope digs into the endless supply of workers this industry relies on. Based on interviews, surveys and content analysis, it finds that transnational criminal networks use platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp to lure recruits from across Asia and Africa.
Fake job ads promise high salaries, visas and safe working conditions. But the reality is brutal: confiscated passports, confinement, physical and psychological abuse, and severe penalties for those who resist. Foreign recruits, isolated by language and distance, often endure the harshest treatment.
This study’s author, digital rights specialist Bo Bo, challenges tech platforms to act decisively against recruitment content. It also calls on governments to coordinate cross-border investigations and victim-centred rehabilitation programs. Without international action, she warns, social media will remain the scam industry’s most effective recruitment pipeline.
Digital Swindles: Scams targeting Myanmar’s own people
While the other studies unpack scam operations, Digital Swindles maps how they target victims, including inside Myanmar itself. Drawing on interviews and a survey of 302 respondents in Myanmar and Thailand, it maps the scams permeating daily life: fake banking calls, fraudulent borrowing schemes, and deceptive investment offers spread through messaging apps and Facebook.
It finds that low digital literacy, economic hardship and weak consumer protection have left people inside Myanmar acutely exposed. Yet many are improvising ways to fight back—sharing warnings online, learning to spot red flags and calling for stronger regulation. The study recommends public-awareness campaigns, better enforcement and collaboration with tech companies to curb the most common fraud patterns.
Digital Swindles was authored by members of The Sirius Research Group, an independent research team founded in 2022 and based in Thailand.
The need for a global response
Read together, these studies reveal a criminal ecosystem thriving on crisis. Human traffickers, local recruiters and online platforms all profit from Myanmar’s instability, while victims span continents. The researchers’ findings point to a clear agenda for the international community:
- Hold tech platforms accountable for content and communications that enable recruitment and fraud.
- Coordinate cross-border enforcement against organized crime and financial flows, rather than isolated crackdowns.
- Invest in digital literacy and consumer protection so people in Myanmar can recognize and resist scams.
- Adopt victim-centred, trauma-informed responses to support those escaping scam compounds.
The message is clear: Behind so many tragic stories of individual scam victims lies a humanitarian and security crisis. And the people of Myanmar cannot tackle this alone. By exposing the machinery of exploitation, these researchers are showing what it will take for the international community to act.
