Americans lost more than $11 billion to crypto-related fraud last year, according to an FBI report released in April — and the pressure on governments across Southeast Asia to crack down has only grown since then.
A Deadly Business
Myanmar’s military government has now responded with one of the harshest proposed laws of its kind anywhere in the world.
The Anti-Online Fraud Bill, made public Thursday, would send anyone convicted of digital currency fraud to prison for anywhere between ten years and life.
In the most serious cases, offenders could face the death penalty.
The law specifically targets operators of scam centers who cause the death of workers coerced or trafficked into committing fraud on their behalf — those individuals would be sentenced to death under the proposed legislation.
Myanmar’s parliament, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, said it drafted the bill in response to online fraud that threatened the country’s sovereignty and stability.
Not The First Execution In The Region
Myanmar is not alone in taking a hard line. China executed 11 people in January tied to Myanmar-based scam operations, according to reports. Those operations had been responsible for trafficking Chinese nationals into forced labor inside the compounds.
The US has also stepped up its response. In April, American authorities worked alongside officials in China and Dubai to arrest more than 200 people and shut down nine scam centers.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March directing officials to go after scam compounds and cybercrime.
The FBI’s Scam Center Strike Force has since focused its investigations on senior figures running compounds in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma, including affiliates of Chinese organized crime networks.
Online scam centers across Southeast Asia have become a growing problem for law enforcement worldwide. Schemes range from pig butchering and romance scams to fake investment platforms — many of them relying on crypto to move money.
A Government With A Complicated Record
Myanmar’s military took power in a coup in 2021. The country’s parliament did not meet again until March 2026, following elections that independent observers said were neither free nor fair. The government is scheduled to convene during the first week of June, when lawmakers may take up the bill.
Beyond crypto fraud, Americans lost more than $20 billion in total to online scams in 2025, FBI data shows. The agency’s task force has been working to identify and prosecute leaders of the most dangerous scam operations in the region.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
