China Executes 11 Myanmar Scam Mafia Members

China has executed 11 members of the Ming family, a notorious mafia clan that ran scam centres in Myanmar’s Laukkaing border town, state media confirmed. The executions, carried out in Zhejiang province, follow convictions for homicide, illegal detention, fraud and operating gambling dens.

The Ming empire, once a sprawling network of casinos and scam compounds, collapsed in 2023 when ethnic militias seized Laukkaing and handed the family over to Chinese authorities. Their trial, held behind closed doors, concluded last September with death sentences for 11 members and lengthy jail terms for more than 20 others. China’s highest court later rejected their appeals, citing crimes that led to the deaths of 14 citizens and injuries to many more.

The Ming family had transformed Laukkaing from a remote backwater into a hub of gambling, prostitution and online fraud. Their operations, according to China’s courts, generated more than 10bn yuan (£1bn) between 2015 and 2023. Victims were largely Chinese, while thousands of trafficked workers — many kidnapped — were forced to run scams inside heavily guarded compounds where violence and torture were routine.

The patriarch, Ming Xuechang, killed himself in 2023 while attempting to evade capture. His Crouching Tiger Villa compound became infamous as one of the most brutal scam centres in the region.

Beijing’s move is widely seen as a deterrent message to other crime families. Yet the business has already shifted south, with scam operations now thriving along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, and in Cambodia and Laos, where China’s influence is weaker.

The Ming clan are the first scam bosses from Myanmar to face execution in China, but they will not be the last. Five members of the Bai family were sentenced to death in November, while trials of the Wei and Liu families are still ongoing.

China’s frustration with Myanmar’s military, accused of profiting from the scam trade, has been evident. In late 2023, Beijing tacitly backed an ethnic insurgent alliance in Shan State that captured Laukkaing, striking at the heart of the scam industry.

The executions mark a turning point in China’s crackdown on cross‑border fraud, but the scale of the problem remains vast. The UN estimates hundreds of thousands have been trafficked into scam centres across South East Asia, with billions stolen from victims — a shadow economy that continues to thrive despite Beijing’s show of force.

-2026-01-30