More than 600 people fled one of Myanmar’s most infamous scam compounds and crossed into Thailand after a military raid, Thai officials said Thursday, marking the latest escalation in regional efforts to dismantle the country’s multibillion-dollar cyber fraud networks.

“677 people fled from the scam center, KK Park, in Myanmar across the Moei River into Thailand as of Thursday morning,” said Sawanit Suriyakul Na Ayutthaya, deputy governor of Thailand’s Tak province, which borders Myanmar.

The exodus followed a military operation targeting KK Park, a notorious hub for internet fraud operations where thousands of workers, many reportedly trafficked, are forced to carry out online scams targeting victims abroad.

Humanitarian screening amid trafficking concerns

Sawanit said Thai immigration police and military forces “worked together to provide assistance under humanitarian procedures,” adding that those who crossed will undergo screening to determine whether they are victims of human trafficking. Those found to have entered illegally but not trafficked may face prosecution, he added.

According to the Tak Provincial Administration Office, the group that entered Thailand included “foreign nationals,” both men and women, and authorities expect more to follow.

While many scam workers are trafficked into fortified compounds under false job promises, analysts note that others join voluntarily, lured by the prospect of quick profits in a booming criminal industry that has flourished amid Myanmar’s civil war.

Crackdown follows Starlink disconnections

The raid comes just after SpaceX confirmed it had disabled more than 2,500 Starlink satellite internet devices operating in Myanmar’s scam compounds, following reports that the terminals were being used to power illicit online networks.

Lauren Dreyer, SpaceX’s vice-president of Starlink business operations, said the company had “disabled over 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected ‘scam centers’” in Myanmar after an AFP investigation revealed widespread misuse of the network.

Earlier, Myanmar’s junta confirmed that 30 Starlink terminals were seized at KK Park, a figure AFP reporters described as a fraction of those in use. Witnesses told AFP that hundreds of people fled the site by foot, motorbike, and pickup truck as soldiers arrived.

Read more: US Congress probes Musk’s Starlink over Myanmar scam compounds

Scam centers: A wartime industry

The scam compounds have become a key economic engine for Myanmar’s war-torn borderlands since the 2021 coup. Many are operated by militias aligned with the military regime, which allows them to run the facilities in exchange for loyalty and shared profits, AFP reports.

“They need to be able to enrich those militias,” said Nathan Ruser, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “But then they also have the pressure from China.”

The result, he explained, is a “balancing act”: Limited crackdowns meant to appease Beijing while preserving the lucrative flows of money sustaining the junta’s control.

Chinese pressure and regional fallout

Beijing has been increasingly vocal over the proliferation of scam networks in Myanmar, particularly those targeting Chinese citizens or using trafficked Chinese labor. Earlier this year, Chinese authorities led a regional campaign urging Myanmar to curb the scams, applying both political and economic pressure on the junta.

Thailand, meanwhile, has enacted a cross-border internet blockade and repatriated over 7,000 scam workers since February, while continuing to coordinate with China on anti-trafficking operations.

Despite these efforts, investigations indicate that new compounds continue to emerge, often reconnecting to global internet networks through satellite links before being shut down.

Read more: Cambodia apparently enabling cybercrime trafficking industry: Amnesty