An undisclosed number of Chinese nationals allegedly involved in transnational cyber scam operations have been relocated south along the Thai-Myanmar border from Shwe Kokko in Myawaddy Township to Payathonzu in Kyain Seikgyi Township, paying substantial transit bribes to pro-military forces at checkpoints along the corridor.
Shwe Kokko, located 16 miles (25 km) north of the border trade hub of Myawaddy town, has served as the headquarters of the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) since its formation in 2009.
The syndicates’ southward movement transfers personnel roughly 144 miles (231 km) south of Myawaddy to Payathonzu—a border town opposite Thailand’s Sangkhlaburi district that has been under the control of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) since the late 1990s.
Residents in Myawaddy told DVB that the transit corridor between the two hubs is governed by a patchwork of pro-regime forces and allied ethnic militias.
Along the route, personnel from the Myanmar Army, the DKBA, and the Karen BGF—which rebranded itself as the “Karen National Army” (KNA)—reportedly collected at least 100,000 Thai baht ($3,000 USD) per Chinese national at three separate checkpoints to facilitate their passage.
Both the DKBA and the BGF/KNA have repeatedly denied allegations of direct involvement in or protection of cyber-fraud syndicates along the frontier.
The relocation undermines the regime’s publicized enforcement drive in northern Myawaddy.
Regime media reported that as of Nov. 8, joint demolition teams had destroyed 90 per cent of six-storey structures and 30 per cent of five-storey buildings used for online gambling and fraud in Shwe Kokko, without disclosing the total number of demolished buildings.
Despite these theatrical demolitions—which investigators and anti-trafficking activists have long criticized as cosmetic—cyber scam networks have systematically shifted equipment and trafficked workers southward into alternative border enclaves across Karen State.
Evidence of entrenched scam hubs in Payathonzu has mounted in recent weeks.
On Oct. 2, two Japanese nationals who had been trafficked and forced to work inside a cyber scam compound in Payathonzu were rescued and handed over to Thai police across the frontier.
