Myanmar's Military Government Proposed the Death Penalty for Crypto Fraud and Scam Center Operators
-

Myanmar's military government has released the text of an Anti-Online Fraud Bill proposing some of the most severe criminal penalties for digital currency fraud anywhere in the world, including sentences ranging from ten years to life in prison and the death penalty for the most serious cases. The bill, made public Thursday by Myanmar's parliament the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, frames the legislation as a response to online fraud that the government said challenged the country's "sovereignty and stability." Anyone convicted of digital currency fraud or online fraud faces the ten-year to life imprisonment range, while the death penalty would be imposed in specific circumstances — most notably on anyone responsible for the death of an individual who had been coerced or trafficked into committing online fraud at one of Myanmar's notorious scam centers. The bill is scheduled to be considered when parliament meets in the first week of June.Myanmar's proposed penalties arrive in a regional context of escalating enforcement against Southeast Asian scam center networks. In January, China ordered the execution of 11 people linked to Myanmar scam operations responsible for trafficking Chinese nationals. The US announced in April that it had worked with Chinese and Dubai authorities to arrest more than 200 people and shut down nine scam centers.
The FBI reported in April that Americans lost more than $11 billion to crypto-related scams in 2025 alone and more than $20 billion overall through online fraud, with its Scam Center Strike Force specifically targeting Chinese organized crime affiliates operating in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. The international coordination reflects a shared recognition that the scam center problem — which runs pig butchering schemes, romance scams, and fake investment platforms at industrial scale using trafficked workers — cannot be addressed by any single jurisdiction acting alone.