Scam centres in Myanmar blamed for swindling billions from victims across the world are expanding fast just months after a crackdown that was supposed to eradicate them, an AFP investigation has found.
New buildings have been springing up inside the heavily guarded compounds around Myawaddy on the Thailand-Myanmar border at a dizzying pace, with others festooned with dishes for Elon Musk’s Starlink service, satellite images and AFP drone footage show.
Starlink has gone from nowhere at the time of the crackdown in February to becoming Myanmar’s biggest internet provider every day from July 3 until October 1, according to data from the APNIC Asian regional internet registry.
The US Congress Joint Economic Committee told AFP they have begun an investigation into Starlink’s involvement with the centres. It has the power to make Musk testify before it.
SpaceX, which owns Starlink, did not reply to AFP requests for comment.
China, Thailand and Myanmar forced pro-junta Myanmar militias who protect the centres into promising to “eradicate” the compounds in February. They freed around 7,000 people—most Chinese citizens—from the brutal call centre-style system, which the United Nations says runs on forced labour and human trafficking.
Many workers told AFP they were beaten and forced to work long hours by scam bosses who target victims across the globe with telephone, internet and social media cons.
Only weeks after the headline-grabbing releases, building work on several of the centres had started along the Moei River, which forms the frontier with Thailand.
AFP analysis of satellite images from Planet Labs PBC found dozens of buildings going up or being altered in the largest of the compounds, KK Park, between March and September.
New roads and a roundabout had also been added, with the security checkpoint at its entrance greatly extended. AFP drone footage also captured major construction going on, with cranes and labourers hard at work on what appeared to be large office blocks.
At least five new ferry crossings across the Moei River have also appeared to supply the centres from the Thai side, satellite images show.
–Khmer Times–
