Myanmar Passes Law Setting Life Terms for Crypto Scam Centers

Myanmar's Union Parliament passed a law on July 28 setting sentences of 10 years to life in prison for running an online scam center or committing digital-currency fraud.

The Anti-Online Scam Bill also imposes the death penalty when violence, torture or unlawful detention used to force people into online fraud results in a victim's death.

The compounds it targets run illegal online gambling alongside investment and romance fraud. The United Nations put losses from such operations across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand at $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025.

Bill Creates a National Anti-Scam Center

Speaker Aung Lin Dwe announced passage on state television after a joint session of the two chambers in Naypyidaw, Agence France-Presse reported. The houses had approved separate versions and reconciled them before the vote.

A draft published in May for public comment ran to 13 chapters and created an Anti-Online Scam Center with a central committee and regional bodies. It gave authorities power to seize assets tied to fraud and to share information among banks, telecommunications firms and state agencies.

Lower house lawmaker Aye Chan said the final version made few significant changes to that draft.

Enforcement Record Trails the Penalties

Authorities detained 14,731 foreign nationals who entered the country illegally between Jan. 30, 2025 and July 8, 2026, deporting 13,811 and holding 920 for prosecution, the Democratic Voice of Burma reported. The Ministry of Information has described its border sweeps as action against telecom fraud and online gambling, with buildings at KK Park and Shwe Kokko demolished since October 2025.

Rights groups told the outlet that the law ignores the border militias that lease land to the syndicates, and that its surveillance, account-freezing and website-blocking powers could be turned on journalists.

FairGambling covered Cambodia's report tying 72 of its 195 licensed casinos to scam operations on July 28.

No presidential assent notice or commencement date had been published as of July 29, according to multiple reports, leaving unsettled when the sentences take effect.