Myanmar’s military regime has launched one of its largest anti-scam offensives to date, arresting more than 1,600 foreign nationals in a five-day raid targeting online fraud syndicates along the Myanmar–Thailand frontier. The sweeping operation, which unfolded between November 18 and 23 in the notorious settlement of Shwe Kokko, underscores the junta’s growing desire to show international partners that it is cracking down on cybercrime-even as the military faces its own accusations of complicity in the scam industry.

According to the junta-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar, the campaign resulted in the detention of 1,590 foreign nationals allegedly tied to industrial-scale online fraud, illegal gambling, and transnational scam operations. The settlement of Shwe Kokko, already infamous as a “gambling and fraud hub,” has long been dominated by networks running schemes that exploit trafficked workers and prey on victims across Asia, Europe, and the United States.

The five-day offensive yielded not only arrests, but also massive quantities of seized equipment. Authorities confiscated 2,893 computers, more than 21,000 mobile phones, and 101 SpaceX Starlink receivers-tools central to the functioning of large online scam networks that rely heavily on stable internet connectivity to carry out operations with global reach. Officials also reported the discovery of “a large quantity of industrial materials,” believed to be used in data processing, phishing operations, and communication infrastructure.

The raids intensified on November 22, when security forces captured 223 people who had allegedly gone into hiding after taking part in scam schemes. The arrests covered a wide........

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