Frontier Myanmar reported on June 23, 2022 that the Karen Border Guard Force is providing the military with frontline soldiers in exchange for business protection, allowing its "new city" project in Shwe Kokko to emerge as a hub for online scams1.
Shwe Kokko sits in Myawaddy Township, Kayin State, on Myanmar's border with Thailand. The report describes the arrangement as a trade: the Border Guard Force supplies the military with soldiers for the front line, and receives protection for its business interests in return1. That protection is what the outlet says allowed the project to re-emerge as a center for online scam operations1.
"The Karen Border Guard Force is providing the military with frontline soldiers in exchange for business protection, allowing its “new city” project to emerge as a hub for online scams."
The full article sits behind a registration wall, so the specific scale of the scam operations, the number of workers involved, the nationalities of victims and the sums of money generated have not been reported in the material available1. Frontier Myanmar's report does not give figures for the size of the project, the dates of its re-emergence, or the names of any companies or individuals operating inside it1.
What it means for players
Shwe Kokko is one of the border zones in Southeast Asia where online gambling and scam operations have clustered, alongside sites in Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines. For anyone gambling in Myanmar or through sites that present themselves as operating from the region, the practical point is that a project of this kind operates under armed protection rather than a normal licensing framework. Deposits made to platforms run from such zones are not covered by any consumer protection or dispute process that a player can appeal to. The same applies to people who travel to the border area: the report describes a place where a militia group's commercial interests and the military's manpower needs are linked, not a regulated casino jurisdiction.
Players outside Myanmar who are approached by agents, recruiters or affiliate marketers pointing to Shwe Kokko or similar border towns should treat the location itself as the warning sign. More on how these zones work is in our guide to where scam compounds are, and on reporting routes in gambling scams and safety in Asia.
What happens next
No next steps, timelines or official responses are set out in the report1. Frontier Myanmar published the account on June 23, 2022; it does not state whether any investigation, sanction or enforcement action followed1.
Sources1 sources
- Scam City: How the coup brought Shwe Kokko back to life | Frontier Myanmar, frontiermyanmar.net
