Eleven people were executed in China on Thursday for their alleged involvement in online fraud centers in Myanmar. A court in Wenzhou (Zheijiang province) sentenced her to death on September 29th. After two higher courts confirmed the death sentences, they have now been carried out by the court in Wenzhou, reported China’s state media citing the Supreme People’s Court.
34 people were charged with, among other things, intentional homicide, bodily harm, false imprisonment, fraud and operating casinos. In addition to the death sentences, the court imposed prison sentences ranging from five years to “life imprisonment” for the other defendants. Up to 11 of those executed are said to have belonged to the Ming family, which is believed to be responsible for the deaths of 14 Chinese. Ming family should illegally collected the equivalent of 1.2 billion euros between 2015 and 2023.
In November 2025, five members of the Bai clan were also sentenced to death by China for criminal online transactions in Myanmar, and proceedings against members of the Wei and Liu family clans are ongoing BBC still. In online fraud centers, employees are often enslaved through violence and torture and are therefore often perpetrators and victims at the same time.
The convicted online fraudsters were caught in November 2023 in the town of Laukkaing (Laukkai) in northeastern Myanmar on the border with China, previously a stronghold of the opium trade. The Chinese-speaking population of various impoverished minorities living there now lives from agriculture and smuggling. The main means of payment is China’s renminbi.
From casinos and prostitution to online fraud
From 1989 onwards, clans close to the military and their militias controlled smuggling. They initially ran illegal casinos and prostitution in Laukkaing before online fraud factories were added. These lure gullible investors into fraudulent transactions with cryptocurrencies. The beneficiaries and victims were mainly Chinese.
Myanmar’s military junta, which seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021, did not take action against the fraudulent transactions as China had requested because it was suspected of participating in it. Beijing then signaled to insurgents in the region that China would remain neutral in their offensive.
On October 27, 2023, the so-called “Three Brothers Alliance” of three rebel groups struck and made major gains in territory in a short period of time. Soon, the MNDAA (Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army), which is part of the nationwide armed anti-dictatorial resistance, arrested online fraud masterminds wanted by China in Laukkaing. The head of the Ming clan, Ming Xuechang, escaped by suicide, and other clan members handed the rebels over to China.
However, the government in Beijing became frightened by the rebel successes and forced the MNDAA, as well as its allied TNLA, to return captured areas along with separate ceasefires. Rebel leaders who traveled to China are said to have been held there until they gave in. This weakened the armed resistance against the junta, which has since regained victories.
Southeast Asian fraud factories now operate globally
Cyber fraud centers were initially absent in Southeast Asia Cambodia known. They have long been available in Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines. From Laukkaing, many moved further south to the border with Thailand near Myawaddy. There, in the fall of 2025, the junta took action against them under pressure from Thailand, China and the USA, but in some cases only symbolically.
According to UN estimates, In Myanmar, 120,000 people are involved in fraud centers, mostly involuntarily, and another 100,000 in Cambodia. Sales are expected to reach several billion euros annually. Some people in Western countries have long been falling for alleged online romances.
According to estimates by human rights organizations, China executes around 2,000 people a year. There are no official figures.