China has executed four members of the Bai family mafia, one of the most notorious clans behind cyberscam operations in Myanmar, state media confirmed.

The executions follow a Guangdong court’s conviction of 21 family members and associates for crimes including fraud, homicide and injury. Five were sentenced to death last November, among them patriarch Bai Suocheng, who later died of illness after his conviction.

For years, the Bai family dominated Laukkaing, a border town in northern Myanmar, running casinos, red-light districts and sprawling scam centres. Authorities say the Bais controlled their own militia and established 41 compounds to house online fraud operations, creating a culture of violence where beatings and torture were routine.

The court noted that the family’s criminal activities led to the deaths of six Chinese citizens, the suicide of one victim and multiple injuries. Their rise to power dates back to the early 2000s, when Bai Suocheng aligned himself with Min Aung Hlaing, the military leader who now heads Myanmar’s government.

But the empire collapsed in 2023, when Beijing, frustrated by Myanmar’s failure to act against the scams, tacitly backed an offensive by ethnic insurgents. That campaign marked a turning point in Myanmar’s civil war and led to the capture of the mafia clans, who were later handed over to Chinese authorities.

Since then, the Bai family has been featured in state documentaries highlighting Beijing’s determination to stamp out cyberscam networks. The latest executions are widely seen as a message of deterrence, underlining China’s resolve to punish those behind the scams.

The United Nations estimates that hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into scam centres across Myanmar and South East Asia. Many of them are Chinese nationals, while the victims—swindled out of billions of dollars—are predominantly Chinese as well.

With these executions, Beijing is sending a clear signal: its crackdown on transnational fraud is intensifying, and those who profit from cyberscams will face the harshest consequences.

-2026-02-03

This is outstanding news and it's very likely not even their mothers are going to miss them. Scammers like this do not even deserve the oxygen that they consume, which is a privilege, not a right.