China Delivers Death Sentences for Leaders of Myanmar-Based Scam Syndicate

A court in eastern China has handed down death sentences to three individuals for their roles in operating a vast network of scam centres located in Myanmar. The Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court, situated in southeastern Fujian province, announced on Tuesday that Wei Huairen, Chen Dawei, and Liao Jingfang were convicted as part of the “Wei family criminal gang”. This syndicate was implicated in a range of serious crimes, including drug trafficking, organized prostitution, illegal casino operations, telecommunications fraud, and the murder of at least two Chinese nationals.

According to the court’s statement, Wei was identified as one of the gang’s leaders and was found guilty of multiple offenses, including murder. In addition to the death sentences, three other gang members received life imprisonment, while 55 others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three years and three months to 24 years. The court reported that the gang’s illicit activities generated profits exceeding $1.8 billion.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that the gang managed 14 “large-scale” compounds and had lured “thousands” of Chinese nationals to Myanmar by promising lucrative employment opportunities. This verdict comes amid an intensified crackdown by Beijing on cross-border scam networks operating throughout Southeast Asia, a region where these scam operations have evolved into an industrial-scale business. The International Organization for Migration had previously warned in July that scam centres in Southeast Asia employ as many as 300,000 workers, utilizing online schemes to defraud individuals globally, particularly the elderly. Many of the individuals forced to carry out these online scams are trafficked foreign nationals compelled to work in conditions described as prison-like compounds.