en.malanginspirasi.com – The military-backed parliament of Myanmar has passed legislation establishing a death penalty online scam law aimed at syndicates using violence or forced labor.
Under the newly approved bill offenders face severe penalties aimed at curbing the nation’s booming, forced-labor cybercrime industry.
The first one passed since coup leader Min Aung Hlaing assumed the role of civilian president in April.
While the finalized text of the law has not yet been publicly released, Lower House MP Aye Chan confirmed to AFP that the critical provisions from the May draft were retained.
If physical violence or unlawful detention within a scam operation leads to a victim’s death, the law mandates that the death penalty shall be imposed.
Non-fatal abuse and forced labor carry prison terms ranging from 10 years to life, while operating an online scam center or executing digital currency fraud carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The introduction of new capital offenses marks a swift policy reversal, coming just three months after Min Aung Hlaing commuted all existing death sentences to life imprisonment upon taking office.
Myanmar had previously resumed judicial executions in 2022 by hanging four pro-democracy activists, which marked the country’s first official executions since 1976.
The rapid passage of this new crime bill underscores the military’s total grip on legislative power.
Under Myanmar’s constitution, a quarter of all parliamentary seats are strictly reserved for military personnel, while the military’s proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, secured a sweeping majority of the remaining seats in phased elections that excluded opposition groups.
The legislation responds to an unprecedented human trafficking and financial fraud crisis centered along Myanmar’s porous borderlands.
These compounds have evolved into global epicenters for “pig-butchering” operations—deceptive schemes where targets are groomed online before being coerced into fraudulent cryptocurrency investments.
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Estimates from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reveal that scam syndicates across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania siphoned between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion from global victims in 2025 alone.
Hundreds of thousands of people from over 80 countries have been lured to these compounds with promises of legitimate tech jobs, only to have their passports confiscated and face physical torture if they fail to meet scam quotas.
Border militias closely tied to Myanmar’s central government play a key role in enabling these operations.
In May 2025, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned the Karen National Army as a transnational criminal organization, citing its border territory as a haven for major cybercrime syndicates that profit Myanmar’s military apparatus.
Although the militia denies these claims, growing international outrage and pressure from foreign governments, particularly China, have forced regional authorities to demonstrate action.
Neighboring countries like Cambodia have introduced similar bills targeting compound bosses, while U.S. prosecutors recently seized $25 million in illicit cryptocurrency routed through the region.
Nonetheless, the UN agency warns that regional police forces still lack the technical capabilities to trace on-chain crypto proceeds, leaving the core financial architecture of these syndicates largely intact.
