Myanmar’s military-backed parliament published a draft bill on Thursday proposing the death sentence for those who detain or violently coerce victims into working at online scam centres, marking one of Southeast Asia’s harshest legal responses to the region’s booming fraud economy.
The “Anti-Online Scam Bill” would allow capital punishment for “violence, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, or cruel treatment against another person for the purpose of forcing them to commit online scams,” according to the published text reported by Ada Derana. The legislation also carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for operating an online scam centre or running cryptocurrency scams.
Internet fraud factories have flourished in war-torn Myanmar, where the 2021 military coup triggered a civil conflict that has seeded instability and allowed organised crime groups to set up fortified compounds across border regions. The multibillion-dollar black market targets web users worldwide with romance and cryptocurrency investment scams, drawing willing employees as well as trafficked workers who have reported being tortured by site operators.
US-based victims alone were defrauded out of more than $20 billion through such schemes last year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The trade has also strained Myanmar’s ties with China, whose nationals have featured prominently among scam centre operators, employees and victims, prompting Beijing to press Naypyidaw repeatedly for crackdowns.
Myanmar’s parliament is next due to sit in the first week of June. The bill’s reach extends beyond domestic operators: Sri Lanka has steadily intensified its own enforcement against the displaced syndicates that recruit South Asian workers, including the arrest of 54 foreign nationals in Hikkaduwa for cybercrime in May and the recent public appeal for tips on foreign nationals residing without proper authorisation.
