China has executed 11 members of the Ming family, a powerful mafia clan that ran extensive scam centres in Myanmar along the country’s north-eastern border, according to state media reports.
The executions follow the family members’ sentencing in September by a court in Zhejiang province for crimes including homicide, illegal detention, fraud and operating illegal gambling dens. The Ming family was among several powerful clans that once controlled Laukkaing, a border town in Myanmar’s Shan State, which they transformed from an impoverished settlement into a hub of casinos, red-light districts and large-scale online fraud operations.
The family’s criminal empire collapsed in 2023 after ethnic militias seized control of Laukkaing during an escalation in fighting with Myanmar’s military. The militias later detained members of the Ming family and handed them over to Chinese authorities.
With the executions, Beijing appears to be sending a strong deterrent message to organised scam networks that have targeted Chinese citizens for years. However, analysts note that scam operations have since shifted to other parts of South East Asia, including Myanmar’s border with Thailand, as well as Cambodia and Laos, where China’s influence is more limited.
According to United Nations estimates, hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked across the region and forced to work in online scam centres. Thousands of Chinese nationals are believed to be among those coerced into running the schemes, which primarily defrauded Chinese victims of billions of dollars.
China’s frustration with Myanmar’s military, which has been widely accused of tolerating or benefiting from the scam industry, grew in recent years. In late 2023, Beijing tacitly supported an offensive by an ethnic insurgent alliance in Shan State that captured significant territory from the military and overran Laukkaing, a key stronghold for scam operations.
The 11 executed Ming family members are the first known Myanmar-based scam bosses to face capital punishment in China, but authorities have signalled that more cases will follow. In November, five members of the Bai family were also sentenced to death, while trials involving members of the Wei and Liu families are still ongoing.
The Ming family’s trial was conducted behind closed doors, although more than 160 people — including relatives of victims — attended the sentencing hearing last year. China’s top court said the family’s scam and gambling operations generated more than 10 billion yuan (£1 billion) between 2015 and 2023, and were linked to the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens, with many others injured.
More than 20 additional Ming family members received prison sentences ranging from five years to life. The clan’s patriarch, Ming Xuechang, died by suicide in 2023 while attempting to evade detention, according to Myanmar’s military.
Chinese state media aired confessions from arrested suspects in documentaries, underscoring the government’s determination to dismantle cross-border scam networks.
The Ming family rose to prominence in the early 2000s, after Laukkaing’s former warlord was ousted in a military operation led by Min Aung Hlaing, who later became Myanmar’s military ruler following the 2021 coup. Initially reliant on gambling and prostitution, the family eventually expanded into online fraud, operating heavily guarded compounds where trafficked workers were forced to carry out scams under harsh conditions.
China’s latest actions highlight its growing resolve to confront the regional scam industry, even as the networks continue to adapt and relocate beyond its immediate reach.
Melissa Enoch
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