CHINA BOOSTS MYANMAR CYBER SCAM CRACKDOWN EFFORTS

China is ramping up a crackdown on online scams operated by criminal syndicates in border areas of militaryruled Myanmar in an effort that has included a shootout, confession videos and national TV broadcasts of arrests of high-profile suspects.

But the drive has been confined to a limited area and appears unlikely to root out the kingpins behind the human trafficking and other illicit activities aimed at cheating people of their savings via phone calls and online overtures, schemes that are thought to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue a year.

Over the summer, China announced a series of joint operations with neighbouring countries that led to thousands of people being returned to China, many of whom had been lured by the promise of high-paying jobs. Experts say many are victims who were forced into conducting the scams.

Those campaigns did not include arrests of ring leaders in Myanmar.

"As soon as we discover them, we hand them over," said Lu Jiantang, the vice-chair of foreign affairs in Wa, whose job is ensuring that people fleeing fighting in neighbouring areas do not include scammers.