AFP, YANGON, Myanmar
Myanmar yesterday published a parliamentary bill proposing the death sentence for those who detain or violently coerce people into working in online scam centers.Internet fraud factories have flourished in Myanmar, part of Southeast Asia’s scam economy, targeting Internet users worldwide with romance and cryptocurrency investment cons.The multibillion-dollar black market attracts many willing employees, but repatriated foreigners have also reported being trafficked to sites in Myanmar and tortured by scam center operators.
The sun sets over temples in Bagan, Myanmar, on Wednesday.
The draft legislation would allow capital punishment for “violence, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, or cruel treatment against another person for the purpose of forcing them to commit online scams.”The anti-online scam bill also includes a maximum sentence of life in prison for those who “run an online scam center” and those who “commit digital-currency scams (cryptoscams).”
Myanmar’s military-backed parliament is next scheduled to sit in the first week of next month.People in the US alone were scammed out of more than US$20 billion combined through such schemes last year, FBI data showed.The activity has also ramped up tensions with China, which has become irked at the number of its citizens founding scam centers, working in them and falling victim to them, analysts said.Over the course of Myanmar’s five-year civil war, China has intermittently thrown its weight behind rebels and the military to suit its security and economic interests, monitors say.It has favored the military recently, backing a junta-run election that shut out opposition parties.The anti-online scam bill is the first legislation presented by the new government that is headed by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, who assumed the role of civilian president last month.The bill promises a new committee to cooperate with other countries to combat the illicit industry, another apparent invitation for foreign engagement with the new government.
