Overview

• A Wenzhou intermediate court sentenced 39 people tied to the Ming clan, including 11 to death, with five death penalties suspended for two years, 11 life terms, and the rest receiving five to 24 years.
• The court found the group ran telecom-fraud hubs, illegal casinos, drug trafficking and prostitution from Laukkaing since 2015, generating more than US$1.4 billion.
• Judges cited at least 10 deaths linked to the network, including four people shot in October 2023 during an armed transfer inside a scam compound.
• Chinese authorities said more than 53,000 suspected nationals, including trafficking victims, have been returned from northern Myanmar since the 2023 crackdown; patriarch Ming Xuechang died by suicide in custody.
• Analysts report the fraud industry is shifting operations to Cambodia and adopting cryptocurrencies and advanced technologies to evade enforcement.