Americans lost more than $11 billion to crypto fraud last year, according to an FBI report released in April — and the pressure on Southeast Asian governments to crack down has only grown since then.
A deadly business
Myanmar’s military government has now responded by proposing one of the toughest laws of its kind in the world.
The anti-online fraud bill, made public Thursday, would send anyone convicted of digital currency fraud to a prison sentence of between ten years and life.
In the most serious cases, offenders risk the death penalty.
The law specifically targets scam operators who cause the deaths of workers coerced or trafficked to commit fraud on their behalf – these individuals would be sentenced to death under the proposed legislation.
Myanmar’s parliament, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, said it drafted the bill in response to online fraud that threatened the country’s sovereignty and stability.
Source: Myanmar National Portal
This is not the first execution in the region
Myanmar is not alone in taking a hard line. China executed 11 people in January linked to fraudulent operations based in Myanmar, according to reports. These operations were at the origin of the trafficking of Chinese nationals for forced labor inside the complexes.
The United States has also stepped up its response. In April, U.S. authorities worked alongside officials in China and Dubai to arrest more than 200 people and shut down nine fraud centers.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March ordering authorities to crack down on scams and cybercrime.
The FBI’s Scam Center Strike Force has since focused its investigations on senior figures at compounds in Cambodia, Laos and Burma, including affiliates of Chinese organized crime networks.
Online scam hubs in Southeast Asia have become a growing problem for law enforcement around the world. The schemes range from pig slaughter and romance scams to fake investment platforms – many of them relying on crypto to transfer money.
A government with a complicated balance sheet
Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup in 2021. The country’s parliament did not reconvene until March 2026, following elections that independent observers said were neither free nor fair. The government is expected to meet in the first week of June, when lawmakers can consider the bill.
Beyond crypto fraud, Americans lost a total of more than $20 billion to online scams in 2025, according to FBI data. The agency’s task force worked to identify and prosecute the leaders of the region’s most dangerous fraud operations.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
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