Myanmar Deports 55,711 People
China and Thailand have pledged to crack down on criminal gangs who are involved in human trafficking and setting up illegal centers for online gambling and scamming operations in Myanmar, according to media reports. The issue has gained prominence in recent weeks following the kidnapping of Chinese actor Wang Xing (stage name Xingxing), 31, who had been deceived into going to Thailand for a job casting, but was instead taken to Myanmar, where his head was shaved and he was forced to commit online fraud. On realising he was missing, Wang’s girlfriend took to the Chinese social media platform Weibo to seek help, with her plea going viral and catching the attention of the Chinese authorities, leading to his return on January 7.
The question remains, however, of what happens to the others still trapped in the centers. According to a 2023 UN report, hundreds of thousands of people are thought to have been trafficked to work as online scammers in South East Asia. Their work includes romance-investment scams and crypto fraud to illegal gambling, with victims reported to have faced abuses such as torture, sexual violence and forced labor. At the time of the report, at least 120,000 people were estimated to be in forced labor in Myanmar, with the total across the international scam centers estimated to generate billions of U.S. dollars in revenue per year.
Data published by the newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar shows that between October 5, 2023 and January 13, 2025, a total of 53,388 Chinese nationals were deported by Myanmar’s ruling junta. This is the vast majority of the 55,711 people deported within this time period. Many of these cases are suspected of having been involved in the scams. Foreign nationals were deported to a total of 31 different countries and territories. The newspaper explains that after carrying out investigations into those arrested on suspicion of links to scams, the military authorities deport those found to their respective countries on humanitarian grounds.