11 Myanmar scam center kingpins who ran billion-dollar criminal empire sentenced to death in China
Source: CNN
Scam kingpins who ran billion-dollar criminal empire sentenced to death in China
PUBLISHED Sep 30, 2025, 1:45 AM ET
By Helen Regan
A court in China has sentenced 11 people to death for their roles in a billion-dollar family-run criminal empire built on online scam and gambling operations in a remote border region of Myanmar, and for the deaths of workers who tried to escape.
Eleven members and associates of the Ming crime family were sentenced to death on Monday by the Wenzhou Intermediate Peoples Court in eastern Chinas Zhejiang Province, according to a court statement.
The Ming family is one of the so-called four families of northern Myanmar mafia-like crime syndicates accused of running hundreds of compounds dealing in internet fraud, prostitution and drug production, and whose members hold prominent positions in the local government and militia aligned with Myanmars ruling junta.
The family, headed by Ming Xuechang, had long been tied to an infamous compound called Crouching Tiger Villa in Kokang, an autonomous region on Myanmars border with China. At their peak, the group had 10,000 people working to conduct scams and other crimes for them, Chinese broadcaster CCTV reported.
-snip-
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/30/china/kokang-scam-center-china-myanmar-ming-family-intl-hnk