Satellite Images Reveal How Suspected Scam Compounds Appear Out of Nowhere

A $60B Vote of Confidence

The apparent growth of the criminal operations in Myanmar indicates how a purported crackdown on the sites last year did little to stop the highly lucrative scamming industry. At least 25 alleged scamming sites have appeared in the Myawaddy region of Myanmar, close to the country's border with Thailand, since around the start of the year, according to an analysis of satellite images by the International Justice Mission, an anti-human-trafficking nonprofit.

The images show how land has been flattened and swaths of forest razed, to be ultimately replaced by dozens of buildings and the infrastructure required to run scam operations at scale. “Some were skeptical that the crackdowns last year were genuine, and this imagery shows that was correct,” says Eric Heintz, a global analyst at the IJM, who focuses on the impact of scam compounds and analyzed the suspected sites.

Over the past decade, scam compounds have appeared widely across the Southeast Asian countries of Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. These sites, which are often operated by Chinese organized crime groups, are responsible for vast portions of global online scamming—and are involved in stealing billions of dollars through complex cryptocurrency and romance scams targeting victims in the US and around the world.

While overseen by criminal bosses, much of the day-to-day scamming —involving cold contacting thousands of potential victims of social media, earning their trust over time, and cashing out stolen money—is undertaken by victims of human trafficking. People from more than 60 countries have been lured to the region by false promises of work and then forced to scam people 24/7. Many have their passports taken, receive beatings if they refuse to work , and have little chance of escape.

Why Cursor?

The industrial-scale scam operations have turned into a global crisis, with a raft of international sanctions being issued against those allegedly involved or linked to the operations in Myanmar and Cambodia last year. Starting around October, ahead of elections in the country, Myanmar’s military junta raided some known compounds , making a show of exploding buildings and steamrolling phones and computers used in the scam operations.

However, those eye-catching efforts appear to have done little to stop the vast scamming enterprises from operating and conning new victims. Mechelle B. Moore, the CEO of the anti-trafficking nonprofit Global Alms Incorporated, who is based in Thailand near the border with Myanmar, says her group has identified at least a dozen new sites, and some groups have repopulated previously raided areas.

The Road Ahead

The pace of construction is significant—some of these are going from empty fields to operational compounds in a couple months,” Heintz says. Satellite images seen by WIRED show how buildings have been created within clearings, with around 24 buildings appearing at one site between January and April. Other satellite images show how large numbers of trees have been cleared to make space for the buildings, with roads and what may be houses being built around the sites.

Clusters of large buildings, which are likely to be accommodation for trafficking victims, have appeared on many of the sites. “The layout of these compounds match what we’ve seen in the 30-plus other larger compounds in the area,” Heintz says, adding that while the IJM has not spoken to people who have escaped from the sites, they are aware of people inside them.