The Myanmar government said on October 20 that the government forces carried out raids on the KK scam park near the border with Thailand and seized 30 sets of star-chain network equipment.

During the operation, government forces took over about 200 buildings in the park and found nearly 2,200 employees at the scene.

Burmese government forces seize Starlink equipment in KK park

According to previous reports, Starlink satellite antennas appeared on the roofs of these fraud centers soon after Thai cut off the Internet and power connections to the border areas. About 80 Starlink satellite dishes were found on the roof of one building in the "KK campus" alone. Through satellite images and drone videos, the outside world found that the fraud gang used Thai satellite Internet service and found new buildings with tight security guards in Myawaddy City, on the Thai-Myanmar border.

Data from the Asia-Pacific Internet Information Center (APNIC) Asia Regional Internet Registry Center showed that StarChain jumped to become Myanmar¡¯s largest Internet provider in three months (July to September). The latest data showed that StarChain ranks second with a market share of 12.37%, behind only 13.7% of Myanmar¡¯s National Telecommunications Corporation. The black market for StarChain devices reaches the scale of billions.

Red Star reporter Wang Yalin trainee reporter

previous reports

Musk and Starlink become "accomplices" in Burmese electronic fraud, and the US Congress has launched an investigation

The world¡¯s richest Musk¡¯s major space project has once again sparked controversy.

On October 14, U.S. Eastern Time, the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress stated that it had begun an investigation into whether SpaceX's "StarLink" provided Internet services to Myanmar's fraud parks.

The picture shows the schematic diagram of SpaceX's "Starlink"

At the beginning of this year, China, Myanmar and Thailand jointly implemented crackdown measures against the Myawaddy electronic fraud park in Myanmar. Thai authorities found that criminal groups kept communications open through smuggled "Starlink" terminals. At least eight electronic fraud parks in the Myawaddy area were equipped with "Starlink", and there were 80 "Starlink" satellite antennas on the roof of one building in the "KK Park" alone.

Not only that, data from the Asia-Pacific Internet Network Information Center shows that "Starlink" became one of the largest Internet providers in Myanmar from July to September, ranking second with a market share of 12.37%, second only to Myanmar National Telecommunications Company.

In September this year, the U.S. government imposed sanctions on 19 entities and individuals involved in the telecommunications fraud industry in Myanmar and Cambodia, and disclosed that last year, American people suffered losses of more than 10 billion US dollars due to Southeast Asian fraud, a year-on-year increase of 66%.

Among them, nine Myanmar entities are reported to operate under the protection of the Karen National Army. They are entrenched in northern Myanmar and have actually built a complete industrial chain under the cover of science and technology parks or cross-border e-commerce companies.

The ¡°Star Chain¡± is a low-orbit Internet program launched by SpaceX in 2014 that aims to replace conventional ground communications facilities with 4,2 thousand satellites to provide low-cost, fast and stable satellite broadband services worldwide.

Burma¡¯s infrastructure is weak, especially in remote areas.In March this year, when a 7.9-grade earthquake hit the country, SpaceX donated equipment to rescue workers to send disaster reports in real time, call for rescue signals, and external supplies and medical teams to provide accurate support.

While providing a large number of convenient services to governments and ordinary people, this ambitious plan also faces many controversies, including the fact that too many satellites may lead to space junk problems, and that they are used for large-scale organized crimes, which will have a negative impact on law enforcement agencies in many countries. Anti-fraud work has adversely affected.

U.S. senators sent a letter to Musk urging him to prevent Southeast Asian criminal groups from using the "Starlink" satellite Internet to defraud Americans (data map)

The above-mentioned U.S. Congressional committee began investigating the relationship between Star Link and Myanmar fraud parks in July this year. At the time, Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan sent a letter to Musk urging him to prevent Southeast Asian criminal groups from using the "Star Link" satellite Internet to defraud Americans, but the effect was obviously not good.