The U.S. has slapped sanctions on a militia aligned with Myanmar’s ruling military junta, accusing the group of facilitating cyber-scam operations that have bilked billions from American victims over the past three years.
The U.S. Treasury Department designated the Karen National Army (KNA) as a “transnational criminal organization” on Monday, and also sanctioned three of its leaders: Saw Chit Thu, and his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit.
The KNA runs a large territory on the frontier with Thailand that “is home to multiple cyber scam syndicates,” Treasury said in its announcement.
The syndicates rely largely on human trafficking to fuel their illicit operations, recruiting people from across Asia and beyond with legitimate-sounding job offers, and then forcing them to work in scam centers.
Many recruits arrive in Thailand and are brought across the border into Myanmar and held in compounds there. Thai police were investigating Saw Chit Thu, and had requested an arrest warrant from judicial authorities, the activist group Justice For Myanmar said in February.
Yadanar Maung, a spokesperson for the group, told OCCRP the sanctions could put pressure on Thai authorities to issue warrants.
“The latest U.S. sanctions should send a strong message to Thai authorities to expedite the process of seeking an arrest warrant against Saw Chit Thu and extend it to his family members, including his two sons,” said Yadanar Maung.
Saw Chit Thu is a colonel and his sons are majors in the KNA, which controls a swath of territory in Myanmar’s Karen state on the Thai border. The area includes Shwe Kokko, which has become particularly notorious for “pig butchering” cyber-scams run from prison-like call centers and retrofitted casinos.
One of the most infamous compounds in Shwe Kokko is Yatai New City, a purported $15-billion mega development site that actually serves as a front for cyber-scam centers and illegal casinos, Justice For Myanmar said in a report last year.
The Yatai project was spearheaded by She Zhijiang, who is in jail in Thailand and fighting extradition to China for allegedly running illegal online gambling operations in Southeast Asia. He also has links to a compound in Cambodia that is embroiled in human trafficking and cybercrime allegations, OCCRP previously reported.
In its May 2024 report, Justice For Myanmar documented how the KNA and its leadership profit from leasing land to criminal networks, selling utilities to scam operators, and providing armed security at scam compounds.
The report cited Myanmar corporate records showing that Saw Chit Thu — who is also known as San Myint — and his three children have shares in nine companies operating in Karen state. They include two companies owned by his son, Saw Htoo Eh Moo, which operate two notorious pig butchering compounds, according to the activist group.
“San Myint (Saw Chit Thu) and his family live a lavish lifestyle financed through their illicit businesses with the support of the Myanmar military,” Justice For Myanmar said in its report.
The Treasury Department said in its announcement that cyber-scams like those run by in KNA-controlled areas “exploit victims’ vulnerabilities like recent breakups, bereavement, or financial hardship.” Victims are then induced “to ‘invest’ in bogus cryptocurrency and trading platforms controlled by the scammers themselves.”
Scammers operating out of Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries defrauded Americans out of an estimated $2 billion in 2022, and $3.5 billion in 2023, Treasury said.
The U.S. sanctions on Saw Chit Thu follow those imposed by the U.K. in 2023, and the European Union in 2024.