In a dramatic escalation of efforts to combat Southeast Asia’s booming cybercrime industry, SpaceX has blocked more than 2,500 Starlink terminals tied to scam operations along the Myanmar-Thailand border, company officials and international authorities confirmed this week. The crackdown comes as hundreds of workers, many victims of human trafficking, fled Myanmar’s notorious KK Park scam compound and crossed into Thailand after a military raid, highlighting the region’s ongoing struggle against sprawling internet fraud syndicates.
According to CNN, Lauren Dreyer, SpaceX’s Vice President of Starlink Business Operations, explained in a post on X, “On the rare occasion we identify a violation, we take appropriate action, including working with law enforcement agencies around the world. In Myanmar, for example, SpaceX proactively identified and disabled over 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected ‘scam centers’.” The move, announced on October 24, 2025, targeted Starlink satellite internet terminals used by cybercrime syndicates to orchestrate large-scale fraud schemes, particularly in areas where government control has collapsed since Myanmar’s 2021 military coup.
Myanmar’s descent into civil war after the coup left vast swathes of territory under the control of militias and criminal groups. This chaos, as reported by BBC and AFP, enabled the emergence of “scam parks”—fortified compounds masquerading as business campuses but in reality, sites where thousands are forced, often under duress, to perpetrate online scams. According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, roughly 30 such centers dot the Thailand–Myanmar border, collectively generating billions of dollars in illicit gains each year.
One of the most infamous of these is KK Park in Myawaddy, Karen State. Outwardly, it looks like a modern business park, with sleek buildings and manicured lawns. But as recent raids have revealed, it is a heavily guarded compound where people—many trafficked from across Asia—are detained and compelled to run romance and business cons targeting victims worldwide.
Last week, a military operation at KK Park triggered a mass exodus. Sawanit Suriyakul Na Ayutthaya, deputy governor of Thailand’s Tak province, told AFP that “677 people fled from the scam centre” across the Moei River into Thailand as of Thursday morning, October 24, 2025. Local drivers and journalists observed hundreds more gathering at the border, many clutching suitcases and backpacks, desperate to escape. Estimates suggest as many as 700 people made illegal crossings overnight.
Thai immigration police and military provided humanitarian assistance to those arriving, promising to screen each individual to determine whether they were victims of trafficking or liable for illegal entry. The group included both men and women, with the Tak Provincial Administration office noting the presence of numerous foreign nationals. Among them were around 20 Indonesians, according to the Indonesian embassy in Yangon and reports from Antara, Indonesia’s state news agency.
These events are the latest in a series of crackdowns and cross-border operations aimed at dismantling the region’s cybercrime infrastructure. Since February 2025, about 7,000 workers have been repatriated from scam compounds, and Thailand has enacted a cross-border internet blockade. Yet, as an AFP investigation revealed, construction and installation of Starlink receivers have continued at several compounds, allowing the fraudsters to maintain connectivity even as authorities try to cut them off from the outside world.
SpaceX’s intervention marks a significant development in the fight against these operations. The company’s decision to proactively disable thousands of Starlink units was prompted by mounting evidence that its technology was being weaponized by criminal networks. During the recent raid on KK Park, Myanmar’s military discovered over 2,000 workers and dozens of Starlink kits, underscoring the extent to which satellite internet had become vital to the scammers’ business model.
The U.S. government has voiced concern for over a year about Starlink’s role in facilitating criminal activity in the region. The U.S. Congress even launched an investigation into whether SpaceX had inadvertently enabled fraud networks. While the company’s move to block terminals is widely seen as a positive step, experts warn that the problem is far from solved.
Jason Tower, an analyst with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, told CNN that while blocking the terminals is important, “many people remained in captivity and the fraud schemes continued to operate under the protection of local forces.” The underlying issues—political chaos, corruption, and the complicity of local militias—remain largely unaddressed.
Myanmar’s military, which has historically turned a blind eye to scam centers that profit militia allies, faces increasing pressure from China, whose citizens are both perpetrators and victims of the scams. Analysts cited by AFP suggest that recent crackdowns may be more about appeasing Beijing than dismantling the lucrative operations. Saw Tin Win, a senior militia figure, told a Myanmar media outlet, “Because of the news it became a need for our organization to resolve it carefully. There is pressure from the military, so we warned people not to continue bad things.”
The scale of the problem is staggering. The United Nations estimates that victims across Southeast Asia lost up to $37 billion to scam operations in 2023, with the true global figure likely much higher. Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office recently seized assets worth 70 million baht (about $2.1 million) from Cambodian senator and tycoon Ly Yong Phat, who was sanctioned by the U.S. government last year for alleged human trafficking abuses linked to scam centers.
The fallout from these revelations is rippling across the region. Thailand’s deputy finance minister, Vorapak Tanyawong, resigned on October 22, 2025, following allegations of links to Cambodian cyber-scam operations. Cambodia, meanwhile, has deported 64 South Koreans for alleged ties to fraud networks and arrested dozens more, along with 29 Chinese citizens, in October 2025. However, South Korea’s foreign ministry clarified to AFP that many of those arrests dated back to July, with repatriations occurring on October 18.
Despite these interventions, the scam industry continues to adapt. The installation of Starlink Direct to Cell technology, currently in beta testing in Ukraine, demonstrates how satellite internet can be a double-edged sword—offering lifelines to those in remote areas while also presenting new vulnerabilities for exploitation by organized crime.
Adding to the intrigue, CNN reported that a Russian oligarch has been identified among SpaceX’s shareholders, though there is no evidence linking this development to the ongoing cybercrime crisis in Southeast Asia.
As authorities on both sides of the border work to untangle the web of corruption, trafficking, and technology that sustains these scam centers, it’s clear that cutting off internet access is only the first step. The true challenge lies in addressing the political and economic conditions that allow such criminal enterprises to flourish—and in ensuring real protection and justice for the thousands of victims caught in their grip.
