YANGON: SpaceX has terminated service to more than 2,500 Starlink internet devices at Myanmar scam centres.
A company executive confirmed the action on Wednesday after an AFP investigation revealed widespread Starlink use in the illicit industry.
Sprawling compounds housing internet fraudsters targeting foreigners with romance and business cons have flourished along Myanmar’s loosely governed border.
This growth occurred during the country’s civil war, which was sparked by a 2021 military coup.
A highly publicised crackdown beginning in February saw approximately 7,000 workers repatriated and Thailand implement a cross-border internet blockade.
However, an AFP investigation this month revealed construction has continued rapidly at these centres.
Starlink receivers have been installed en masse, apparently connecting the hubs to the Elon Musk-owned satellite internet network.
SpaceX’s vice-president of Starlink business operations, Lauren Dreyer, stated the company “disabled over 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected ‘scam centers’” in Myanmar.
Her post on X did not specify when the terminals were disconnected.
The online scam industry has boomed across Southeast Asia, defrauding victims of an estimated $37 billion annually in 2023.
This figure comes from a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report.
This weekend, Cambodia deported 64 South Koreans accused of links to scam networks.
Thai authorities are seeking arrest warrants for most of them upon their return.
Thailand’s deputy finance minister Vorapak Tanyawong resigned on Wednesday following allegations linking him to Cambodia-based cyberscam networks.
Myanmar’s border regions with Thailand and China have become particularly fertile ground for these fraud factories.
Some workers are lured or trafficked into these centres, while others participate willingly.
Myanmar’s junta announced this week it had raided KK Park, one of the country’s most notorious scam centres.
Military authorities claimed to have seized Starlink terminals during the operation.
Locals reported raids were continuing on Wednesday.
An AFP reporter observed more than 1,000 people travelling north away from the site by foot, on motorbikes, and crammed into pickup trucks.
“Workers are leaving in chaos,“ one employee leaving KK Park told AFP, speaking anonymously for security reasons.
Experts say Myanmar’s military turns a blind eye to scam centres which profit its militia allies in the region.
These militias play a crucial role in the country’s ongoing civil war.
The junta has also faced pressure to shut down scam operations from its military backer China.
Chinese authorities are concerned about the number of its citizens both participating in and being targeted by the scams.
The haul of Starlink terminals the junta claimed to have seized this week numbered only 30.
This represents a fraction of the thousands which independent analysts have documented at KK Park.
Nathan Ruser, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the Myanmar military is attempting a “balancing act”.
He suggested the junta is tokenistically taking action to please China while actually not doing anything substantial against the militias.
As night fell on Wednesday, a resident of Mae Sot, just over the border in Thailand, reported KK Park appeared largely abandoned.
The resident noted the area is usually brightly lit in the evening but now only shows lights along the fence and a few buildings. – AFP
