Wenzhou: China carried out the death penalty on 11 key members of criminal gangs operating massive telecom fraud centres in northern Myanmar’s lawless border regions, state media confirmed on Thursday.
According to reports, the Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Zhejiang province executed the convicts after Supreme People’s Court approval, marking Beijing’s escalating war on billion-dollar cyber scams.
The reports said the group, including leaders from the notorious “Ming family criminal gang” like Ming Guoping and Ming Zhenzhen, was convicted in September 2025 of intentional homicide, fraud, illegal detention, injury, and running casinos since 2015. Their operations scammed over 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), killing 14 Chinese nationals — often workers trying to escape — and injuring many others in brutal “pig-butchering” romance frauds.
Xinhua detailed how these mafia-style syndicates, one of Myanmar’s “four families,” controlled scam compounds in Kokang and Shan State, blending fraud with drugs, prostitution, and militias tied to the junta. Victims, trafficked globally, faced torture for failing quotas.
Five others got death with reprieves; 23 face 5 years to life.
Beijing’s response intensified post-2023 diplomatic pushes with Myanmar and Thailand, repatriating thousands. Similar November 2025 executions hit Kokang fraudsters. “Evidence conclusive,” the Supreme Court ruled, allowing family meetings pre-execution.
Experts link the surge to Myanmar’s chaos since the 2021 coup, enabling Chinese-led rackets. UN estimates $64 billion annual scam losses worldwide, half from SE Asia hubs.
