According to Lower House MP Aye Chan and AFP, Myanmar's military-backed parliament approved the Anti-Online Scam Bill on Tuesday, setting the death penalty for those who use violence or unlawful detention to force others into running online scams. Running a scam center or committing digital currency scams carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Scam operations across East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania resulted in losses of $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025, with victims from at least 80 countries found inside such compounds, according to UNODC estimates.