Scam Networks Resurface in Myanmar’s Hsipaw

Online fraud operations are taking root in northern Shan State after being pushed from the China border, with criminal groups now scattered across Hsipaw Township. Local residents say syndicates dismantled in Kokang during Operation 1027 have regrouped in rural villages, trading fortified compounds for makeshift huts hidden in orchards and forests.

“They don’t usually stay in one place for more than two months,” one Hsipaw resident explained, describing small groups of four to six people who move frequently to avoid raids.

Hsipaw, with its 460 villages along the Mandalay–Muse highway, has become a new hub. On 9 January, the junta announced it had raided a site near Na Lin village, seizing laptops, phones and Starlink satellite terminals. Photos showed tin-roofed and bamboo structures used by the scammers.

The resurgence follows the fall of Laukkai in 2024, when Kokang’s powerful families lost control of their billion-dollar fraud empire under Chinese pressure. Thousands of suspects were deported, but remnants of the networks have reappeared along the Dokhtawaddy River. Locals report unusual deliveries of solar panels and portable power stations, far beyond the means of ordinary villagers, fuelling suspicions of scam activity.

Armed groups are now entangled. In December, the military raided another site near Pan Sin village, clashing with Shan State Progress Party troops and arresting several suspects, including Chinese nationals. The SSPP denied involvement but admitted scams were operating in its territory. Meanwhile, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army insists it does not tolerate fraud networks and claims to be fighting them.

Residents say patrols by ethnic armed groups, pro-junta militias and regime forces have restricted movement near suspected compounds. Tensions remain high, with fears that scams and drug operations could spark renewed clashes between the junta and SSPP in Hsipaw.

For locals, the return of fraud networks is more than a nuisance: it is a reminder that the shadow economy of scams and drugs continues to destabilise northern Myanmar, even as the conflict shifts from one borderland to another.

-2026-01-21