China sentences to death 5 members of a cyber fraud gang in Myanmar news

Chinese authorities have issued death sentences to five people for their involvement in a violent criminal gang operating fraud operations in the Kokang region located on the border inside Myanmar, according to what was reported by official media.

The Kokang region in Myanmar is one of the hotspots known for electronic fraud activities, as there are shops known as “fraud complexes” in which foreigners work, including a large number of Chinese.

Some Chinese workers say they have been victims of human trafficking and forced to carry out online fraud in an illegal industry that generates billions of dollars annually.

In recent months, Beijing has intensified its cooperation with Southeast Asian countries to combat these criminal groups, and thousands of people have been returned to China as part of joint campaigns.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted a court in the city of Shenzhen in southern China as saying that the crimes of the five people sentenced to death caused the death of 6 Chinese citizens, the suicide of a seventh citizen, and the injury of others.

Warning from the United Nations

Last April, the United Nations warned that Chinese and Asian gangs earn tens of billions of dollars annually through electronic fraud centers.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime explained that this illegal industry linked to electronic fraud has begun to expand to South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and some Pacific islands, and that hundreds of thousands of people work in it around the world.

Last September, another Chinese court issued death sentences to 16 people from a family gang running similar operations in Kokang, including 5 who were given deferred execution sentences for two years.