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By Lawrence Agbo
Myanmar has published a parliamentary bill seeking the death penalty for anyone who detains, tortures or violently forces people to work in online scam centres, as part of efforts to tackle the country’s expanding cyber fraud industry.
The proposed legislation, known as the “Anti-Online Scam Bill,” was released on Thursday and outlines severe punishments for operators of internet fraud factories that have grown across Myanmar during years of conflict and political instability.
Under the bill, individuals found guilty of using violence, torture, unlawful detention or cruel treatment to compel victims into carrying out online scams could face capital punishment.
It also prescribes life imprisonment for those who run scam centres and for people involved in digital currency fraud, including cryptocurrency scams.
Internet fraud compounds have become a major part of Southeast Asia’s underground scam economy, with many targeting victims worldwide through romance scams and fake cryptocurrency investment schemes.
Although some people willingly work in these centres, several foreigners who were later repatriated said they were trafficked into Myanmar and subjected to torture and abuse by scam operators.
Myanmar’s military-backed parliament, often described by analysts as a rubber-stamp legislature, is expected to consider the bill during its next sitting scheduled for the first week of June.
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The rise of scam centres has been linked to the instability caused by the 2021 military coup, which plunged the country into civil war and created opportunities for organised crime groups to operate from fortified compounds.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, victims in the United States alone lost more than $20 billion to such scam operations last year.
The issue has also increased tensions with neighbouring China, where authorities have expressed concern over the growing number of Chinese citizens involved in establishing, working in or becoming victims of scam centres in Myanmar.
The Anti-Online Scam Bill is the first legislation introduced by Myanmar’s new government led by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, who became civilian president last month.
Critics, however, have dismissed the political transition as an attempt to repackage military rule and end the international isolation the country has faced since the coup.
The government has also pointed to recent concessions, including the decision to move detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest, though rights groups argue such steps are aimed at improving the regime’s image rather than restoring democracy.
The proposed anti-scam law also promises the creation of a new committee that would cooperate with foreign governments to combat online fraud networks, in what observers see as an effort to attract wider international engagement.
