China executes 11 gang members in first death penalties against online scammers

China has carried out the executions of 11 members of the Ming family, a crime clan accused of running industrial-scale online scam centers in Myanmar. It marks the country’s first use of the death penalty against bosses of the region’s cyber fraud industry.

State media said the group operated networks that lured victims into fake online relationships, a fraud form known as pig butchering, in which scammers cultivate romantic relationships before persuading victims to invest in bogus cryptocurrency trading or e-commerce schemes.

The family members were sentenced to death in September by a court in eastern China, which also carried out the executions this week, after the rulings were approved by the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing.

According to state news agency Xinhua, the defendants were convicted of crimes including intentional homicide, intentional injury, unlawful detention, fraud, and the illegal operation of casinos.

The Supreme People’s Court said evidence of criminal activity dating back to 2015 was “conclusive and sufficient.”

Under Chinese law, criminals sentenced to death are executed either by firing squad or lethal injection.

The executions in China came as Keir Starmer met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where the British prime minister said he raised the country's human rights record.

Trafficked into sprawling online romance compounds

Investigators said that the family initially made money through gambling and prostitution, before shifting into online fraud as Chinese-owned casinos and hotels across Southeast Asia collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Authorities allege that the family went on to establish sprawling scam compounds in Myanmar, staffed largely by people who were trafficked or kidnapped and forced to carry out fraud under the threat of violence.

The United Nations estimates that hundreds and thousands of people have been trafficked into scam operations across Myanmar and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Many are alleged to be forced to work in heavily guarded compounds, where they pose as romantic partners or financial advisers under coercion, targeting victims across multiple countries and continents.

The scams are thought to generate billions of dollars each year, and targets have expanded into international markets using multiple languages to target victims in Europe and North America.

In recent years, Beijing has intensified efforts to dismantle the networks, repatriating thousands of suspects to China to face prosecution.

The Ming family members are the first Myanmar-based scam bosses to be executed by China, but authorities have indicated further cases are pending.

In November, five members of another Myanmar clan, the Bai family, were sentenced to death with two-year reprieves, while 23 other suspects received prison sentences ranging from five years to life.

The crackdown has also extended beyond China. In October, the US and the UK announced sanctions against the Cambodia-based Prince Group network for allegedly running a chain of “scam centres” across Southeast Asia.

In December, Thai authorities seized more than $300 million in assets linked with cyber-scam operations associated with the group.

Unlock more exclusive Cybernews content on YouTube.