China Executes 11 Members of Notorious Myanmar ‘Scam Mafia’

WENZHOU, CHINA — The reign of terror for one of Southeast Asia’s most feared criminal dynasties officially ended at dawn on Thursday.

In a stark demonstration of Beijing’s “zero-tolerance” policy toward cross-border crime, China executed 11 members of the notorious Ming family syndicate. The group, which operated a multi-billion dollar empire of cyber-scam compounds, illegal casinos, and torture chambers in northern Myanmar, was found guilty of orchestrating a criminal enterprise that led to the deaths of at least 14 Chinese citizens.

The executions, carried out by the Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Zhejiang province, follow the final approval of the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing. It marks the most severe blow yet in a years-long campaign to dismantle the “scam factories” that have proliferated across the lawless borderlands of Myanmar’s Kokang region.

Inside the ‘Crouching Tiger’ Empire

The Ming family was one of the “four great clans” that effectively governed Laukkaing, a town transformed from a remote backwater into a glitzy, neon-lit hub of sin. Under the leadership of patriarch Ming Xuechang—who reportedly committed suicide in 2023 to avoid capture—the family built an industrial-scale criminal infrastructure.

The Syndicate’s Portfolio:

• Billion-Dollar Fraud: The court confirmed the group raked in more than 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) since 2015 through telecom fraud and “pig-butchering” scams.
• Armed Protection: Unlike typical street gangs, the Mings operated as a paramilitary force, employing armed militias to guard their “Crouching Tiger Villa” compound.
• Human Trafficking: Thousands of workers, many of them Chinese nationals, were lured by fake job offers, only to be detained, beaten, and forced to conduct scams under the threat of death.

The ‘Blood Debt’ of 14 Lives

While the financial crimes were staggering, it was the “intentional homicide” and “violent injury” charges that sealed the fate of the 11 defendants. The court detailed a harrowing pattern of brutality used to maintain discipline within the compounds.

“The crimes committed were extremely serious, the circumstances particularly egregious, and the consequences devastating to society,” the Supreme People’s Court ruled in its final review.

The court also sentenced five others to death with a two-year reprieve (typically commuted to life imprisonment) and handed down life sentences to 11 additional associates.

A Message to the ‘Four Families’

The downfall of the Mings began in late 2023 when a surge in ethnic conflict in Myanmar allowed Chinese-backed militias to overrun Laukkaing, capturing the family members and handing them over to Chinese authorities in a high-profile border transfer.

The executions send a chilling message to the remaining mafia clans—the Bai, Wei, and Liu families—who have long enjoyed impunity through ties to Myanmar’s military junta. With the recent extradition of tycoon Chen Zhi from Cambodia and the sentencing of the Bai family ringleaders, Beijing is signaling that the era of the “untouchable” border warlord is over.

The Industrial Scale of Scams

The scale of the “scam park” industry has become a global security concern. Experts estimate that hundreds of thousands of people are currently held in similar compounds across Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. These centers have evolved from simple phone scams into sophisticated crypto-fraud operations that target victims in the West and across Asia.

As the 11 members of the Ming clan were granted a final meeting with their relatives before their sentences were carried out, the “glittering” city of Laukkaing stands as a ghost of its former self—a reminder that even the most lucrative criminal empires eventually face the butcher’s bill.