Beijing has dealt one of its toughest blows yet to Southeast Asia’s shadow cybercrime economy. On Monday, the Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Zhejiang Province sentenced 11 people linked to Myanmar’s notorious Ming crime family to death for their role in a sprawling criminal empire built on online scams, illegal gambling, prostitution, and drug trafficking.
The syndicate, described by Chinese authorities as one of the “four families” controlling Kokang in northern Myanmar, ran hundreds of compounds where trafficked workers were forced into cyber fraud. At its peak, the group’s operations involved as many as 10,000 individuals, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
From Kokang to Crouching Tiger Villa
The family’s rise was anchored in Kokang, a self-administered region on the Myanmar–China border. The infamous Crouching Tiger Villa compound became a hub for internet fraud, with vast sums funneled into casinos and illicit markets. Laukkaing, Kokang’s capital, was transformed from an impoverished border town into a glittering hub of scam and vice, powered by billions in stolen money.
The First Firm to Assess Your DFIR Capability Maturity and Provide DFIR as a Service (DFIRaaS)
Ming Xuechang, the family patriarch and former Myanmar state parliamentarian, used his influence to shield the empire. He later died in custody in 2023, following China’s crackdown. His son Ming Guoping, a leader in the Kokang Border Guard Force, daughter Ming Julan, and granddaughter Ming Zhenzhen were also detained.
Violence, Deaths, and Human Trafficking
The court found the Ming syndicate responsible for the deaths of 10 people who resisted their authority or attempted to escape. In one chilling case in October 2023, armed members opened fire inside a scam compound, killing four people as they moved workers under guard to evade a police raid.
Beyond fraud, the family also oversaw networks of forced labor, prostitution, and drug trafficking. Survivors recounted harrowing abuse, threats, and trafficking across borders to fuel the cybercrime economy.
China’s Crackdown on Scam Syndicates
The sentencing marks the culmination of a campaign Beijing launched in 2023 after mounting public pressure from families of victims trafficked into scam centers. Chinese law enforcement coordinated with rebel offensives in northern Myanmar, which eventually ousted the junta and its allies from Laukkaing.
Authorities say more than 53,000 Chinese nationals—including trafficked workers—have since been repatriated. Additional suspended death sentences and long prison terms were also handed down to Ming associates.
The Broader Southeast Asian Scam Economy
Experts warn that despite high-profile crackdowns, the fraud industry is adapting. The United States Institute of Peace estimates Southeast Asian crime groups steal over $43 billion annually, aided by corruption, weak governance, and armed conflicts.
Increasingly, syndicates are turning to cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence to move money faster and create more convincing fraud campaigns. New scam hubs, such as KK Park in Myawaddy, continue to flourish despite cross-border policing pressure.
A Message to Organized Crime
For Beijing, the death sentences serve as a message to criminal syndicates exploiting Myanmar’s instability. “This case demonstrates the determination to protect citizens and dismantle cross-border fraud networks,” the court statement emphasized.
Yet analysts caution that as long as Myanmar remains engulfed in civil war and its borderlands rife with corruption, new crime families may emerge to fill the void left by the Mings.
