2025 was a terrible year for the ‘Four Families’ accused of running global cyber scam operations
CNN••world
Key Points:
- Notorious crime families in Myanmar's Kokang region, involved in illegal gambling, telecom fraud, drug production, and human trafficking, have been exposed through confessions aired by Chinese state media, revealing brutal punishments and human sacrifices within scam factories.
- The "four families" of Kokang—Bai, Liu, Wei, and Ming—controlled vast criminal empires protected by private armies and political connections, operating over 100 scam compounds that exploited thousands of trafficked workers, mainly Chinese nationals.
- China intensified crackdowns in 2023, arresting and extraditing dozens of crime bosses and thousands of suspects, with multiple family leaders sentenced to death for crimes including fraud, homicide, and extortion, signaling a major blow to
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