China sentences three people to death over Myanmar scam centres

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A court in China has sentenced three members of a family-run crime syndicate to death for operating scam centres in Myanmar.

The Quanzhou intermediate people’s court in Fujian province on Tuesday sentenced mafia gang boss Wei Huairen, Chen Dawei, and Liao Jingfang for their involvement in the Wei family criminal gang.

The court said Wei, the syndicate leader, was found guilty of several crimes, including murder, that netted more than $1.8bn.

Three other members of the Wei syndicate were awarded life in prison, while 55 others were sentenced to between three and 24 years in prison by the intermediate people’s court and the people’s court of Nan’an.

The courts have also ordered Chinese authorities to seize assets and impose heavy fines.

The Wei gang operated 14 large-scale compounds in Myanmar and lured thousands of Chinese nationals to the neighbouring country with promises of higher wage, according to state media.

Besides the telecommunications fraud, the gang was involved in drug trafficking, organising prostitution, operating illegal casinos, and the murder of at least two Chinese citizens, the court said.

The Wei gang has been described as one of the “four families” running crime syndicates in northern Myanmar’s Kokang region. Tuesday’s ruling marks one of the most high-profile legal actions taken by the Chinese authorities in its crackdown on the transnational scam industry along its southwestern border with Myanmar.

Scam parks in recent years have become an industrial-scale business in Southeast Asia, especially Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, where a mix of trafficked and willing labour has carried out digital scams on victims around the world.

Authorities in the region face growing international pressure from China, the US and other nations to address the proliferation of criminal activity.

Last year, China’s ministry of public security said that in 2025 alone, more than 7,600 Chinese citizens suspected of involvement in online gambling and telecom scams were returned from Myawaddy, a southeastern Myanmar town near the Thai border.

Victims were lured with promises of legitimate employment, only to be held captive and forced to carry out online fraud targeting people abroad.

Last year, a Chinese actor who travelled to Thailand for what he believed was an acting job, was smuggled into a scam compound in Myanmar. Another 22-year-old Chinese actor who had gone missing near the Thailand-Myanmar border said he was a victim of human trafficking after being rescued from an area where online scam networks operate.

In January, China executed 11 members of the Ming family while the syndicate founder Ming Xuechang reportedly died by suicide before his arrest.

China executed four members of the Bai family in February after sentencing them to death in Shenzhen, southern China.

The International Organization for Migration has warned that scam centres in Southeast Asia employ as many as 300,000 workers.

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