Myanmar Cracks Down on Scam Centers — Expert: The CCP Is the Real Mastermind

On November 23, 2025, Myanmar government troops raided scam centers. (Video screenshot)

[People News] Myanmar’s military stated on November 23 that during a five-day crackdown targeting a notorious online scam center near the Thai border, nearly 1,600 foreign nationals were arrested. But some observers believe that the intensified crackdown, which began last month, is merely a superficial gesture.

According to a CNA report citing Myanmar’s state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar, the military junta claimed in its latest statistics that from November 18 to 22, during a sweep of Shwe Kokko gambling and scam centers, it “arrested 1,590 foreign nationals who had entered illegally,” including hundreds of Chinese citizens. “In addition, authorities seized 2,893 computers, 21,750 mobile phones, 101 Starlink satellite receivers, 21 routers, and a large quantity of industrial materials used for online scamming and gambling.” State media also reported that the military blew up 180 buildings.

For a long time, Myanmar’s military government has been accused of turning a blind eye to this illegal industry. This so-called crackdown is seen by outsiders as a theatrical performance staged by the junta to help the CCP relieve pressure. But the performance has not been convincing, as some observers point out that the enforcement actions are merely superficial—intended to show Beijing it is responding to pressure, but not enough to severely damage the lucrative operations run by militia allies of the military regime.

Since the 2021 coup triggered civil war, scam centers staffed by large numbers of volunteer workers and trafficked foreign victims have proliferated rapidly in Myanmar’s loosely governed border regions. A United Nations report shows that in Southeast Asia and East Asia alone, scam victims’ losses reached as high as US$37 billion in 2023; the report states that global losses may be “far greater.”

In addition, China affairs expert Heng He recently wrote in The Epoch Times that Chen Zhi of the Prince Group, who was indicted in the U.S., and She Zhijiang of the Asia Pacific Group, who was extradited by the CCP on November 12, are spies working for China’s Public Security and State Security agencies. She Zhijiang is the founder of the “Asia Pacific New City” gambling group in Myawaddy, Myanmar. In 2024, while imprisoned, he admitted in an interview with Al Jazeera’s 101 East (conducted through Thailand’s prison video-visitation system) that he is an agent for the CCP’s Ministry of State Security. She also said he knew things related to Xi Jinping—referring to “that highest-level person”—and that he knew too many secrets about state security and the Belt and Road Initiative. He said that if he were sent to China, he would certainly be silenced.

She Zhijiang was recruited as a state security agent in 2016 and obtained Cambodian citizenship in 2017, stating that he did so under state security orders. He founded the “Myanmar Asia Pacific International Intelligent Industrial New City” (“Asia Pacific New City”), adjacent to the KK Park scam zone. He said he created the Asia Pacific Group under instructions from China’s Ministry of State Security and insisted that Shwe Kokko, where Asia Pacific New City is located, is part of the CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative.

She said that after joining the CCP’s state security operations he deeply regretted it, saying the CCP only wants colonies, while he only wanted to do business.

Heng He stated that the exposure of She Zhijiang’s and Chen Zhi’s spy identities reveals that two of the major scam-zone tycoons dominating Southeast Asia are controlled by CCP agents. The reason Southeast Asia’s scam zones, gambling hubs, and sex-exploitation parks are so brutal and difficult to eradicate is that the thugs running them are cultivated by the CCP—far worse than any regular criminal syndicate. Any gang is insignificant compared to the CCP.

A masked individual who had long infiltrated Southeast Asian scam zones said that some celebrities’ “reverse aging” rejuvenation is linked to Cambodia’s “Life Science Academy,” which is controlled behind the scenes by multiple CCP-affiliated medical institutions. This blogger stated that women over 40 who can no longer be used for sex-based exploitation are often forced to engage in online scamming while simultaneously serving as surrogates. Because IVF procedures can implant two or three embryos at once, victims often must give birth repeatedly in short intervals. After birth, the babies are sold for about 3 million each to what the scam zones call the “Life Science Academy.” The infants are then kept in glass boxes and, after six months, staff puncture their spines to extract spinal fluid to obtain growth factors used to produce so-called “regenerative stem cells.” These injections are marketed as “anti-aging” rejuvenation treatments and sold mainly to wealthy elites and celebrities, at prices as high as 5 million per vial, with spinal-fluid extractions performed every six months.

According to investigations by the Chinese-language media outlet New Tang Dynasty Television, the exposed “Cambodia Life Science Academy” website is filled with suspicious elements. Though located in Cambodia, the website only offers Simplified Chinese and English. “Newborn stem cell storage” is listed as its top business. Among its six core sections, two directly point to official mainland Chinese institutions, including the “Hunan Provincial Cell Preparation Center” and the “Hunan Provincial Cell and Tissue Bank.” All four core qualification certificates were also issued by CCP departments or Hunan local government. Therefore, the CCP is the real master behind the “Cambodia Life Science Academy.” △