Once brightly lit, the Myawaddy tele-fraud park in Myanmar is now struggling to survive after Thailand's "three cuts" policy, barely clinging to life.
In addition to the personnel who were deported, some had already moved to other areas after receiving early warnings.
This has led to many parks being deserted, and in order to make full use of the resources, many parks have begun to transform and upgrade, launching new businesses.
According to local news, a part of the large capital group "Asia-Pacific International" located in the Shwe Kokko valley has now been transformed into a large chicken farm, adopting a self-sufficient economic model.
No wonder Suu Kyi, the king of Myawaddy, expressed his intention to make Myawaddy the "economic center" of Eastern Myanmar.
Myawaddy was once the "heart" of tele-fraud crime in Southeast Asia
With its geographical advantage bordering Thailand in Myanmar's Kayin State, it hosted Asia-Pacific City, KK Park, and dozens of other tele-fraud hubs. At its peak, it housed over 100,000 people engaged in scam activities, capturing billions of dollars annually from victims worldwide through fake investments and online loan scams.
In early 2025, China, Thailand, and Myanmar launched a precise crackdown on Myawaddy with the "three cuts" policy of cutting off internet, electricity, and fuel at its core. Many parks were instantly paralyzed, and a large number of fraud-related personnel began to relocate or were deported.
According to Chinese "satellite" monitoring data, the nighttime brightness of the Myawaddy parks plummeted by 90% compared to before, turning the once bustling "city that never sleeps" into dead silence.
After Thailand cut off the border fuel supply, the Myanmar military began to raid hideouts in coordination with Thailand's actions. Using Chinese satellite positioning and intelligence sharing, Thai and Myanmar forces quickly targeted suspects, deporting 2876 Chinese nationals involved in fraud in just February.
This operation not only cleared the tele-fraud parks along the northern Myanmar border but also targeted the "last stronghold" along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Under high pressure, many tele-fraud parks began to collapse.
The once bustling "Tech Park" of the Asia-Pacific Group was deserted, but it spurred an unexpected "second venture"—some abandoned parks were transformed into chicken farms by local forces.
Barbed wire fences became natural barriers for chicken coops, server rooms were filled with feed bags, and fraud script manuals were used to line chicken nests.
According to Myanmar sources, the Asia-Pacific Group's franchise rights in the Shwe Kokko area have been revoked by the Myanmar Kayin Border Guard Force (BGF).
All Asia-Pacific Group employees involved in tele-fraud have been expelled from the area, and other companies are allowed to enter for development.
Major Saw Maw, a spokesperson for the BGF, stated that this land (Asia-Pacific Tech City) is now developed as a chicken farm, creating job opportunities and generating significant income for local residents. This not only prevents the existing buildings from being abandoned but also allows local residents to self-sustainably use the land for profit, making full use of the fertile land. However, running a chicken farm does not fully utilize the land. According to the BGF, they have many plans "in planning" to fully utilize this abandoned tele-fraud park and strive to undertake more projects beneficial to the local people. A local female employee working at the chicken farm mentioned that she could learn skills and earn income here, helping her family with the money sent home.
In the future, she plans to invest and expand this profession with the money earned.
The transformation of the Shwe Kokko valley into a "chicken farm" is just the tip of the iceberg for the entire Thai-Myanmar border tele-fraud parks.
Although the joint crackdown by China, Thailand, and Myanmar has been effective, with more than 5200 people already deported, Thai police reveal that there are still 50,000 to 100,000 people engaged in tele-fraud activities along the Thai-Myanmar border, spread across various parks around Myawaddy, forming a large and dispersed area of tele-fraud activity, and these criminal networks are shifting to less regulated areas like Poipet in Cambodia.
The biggest challenge in combating tele-fraud is the deep entanglement of local tele-fraud with local armed forces. The Kayin State, where Myawaddy is located, has long relied on a gray economy, with the tele-fraud industry being a major source of funds for local armed groups.
The meager profits from the transformed chicken farms are insufficient to fill this gap. Without support for alternative industries, the criminal economy may resurge in a more covert form.
As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated, only by building an "overseas peace system" in coordination with regional development can this cancer be completely eradicated.
