By Benadeta Mwaura - Reporter
Kenya, February 02,2026 - China has executed four more individuals convicted of leading large-scale scam and gambling operations based in Myanmar, state media and court statements confirmed on February 2, 2026, marking the latest escalation of Beijing’s hard-line campaign against transnational fraud networks.
The four, linked to the notorious Bai family criminal group, were sentenced in November for crimes including fraud, intentional homicide and forced prostitution, and their executions follow the recent execution of 11 other syndicate members earlier this week.
The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court announced the executions, noting that the Bai group’s operations were connected to vast telecom and gambling scam centres in Myanmar’s Kokang region near the Chinese border, where victims were defrauded of more than 29 billion yuan (about USD 4.2 billion), and the group’s activities resulted in the deaths of six Chinese citizens and injuries to others.
One of the five Bai family leaders originally sentenced to death, Bai Suocheng, died of illness before his sentence could be carried out.
The remaining four executed individuals were among those whose appeals were dismissed by the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court after upholding the severity of their crimes and social impact.
These executions come on the heels of China’s announcement last week that it had executed 11 members of a separate criminal network, the Ming family syndicate, which had operated similar scam compounds and illegal gambling dens in northern Myanmar.
That group’s conviction was linked to the deaths and injuries of numerous victims and extensive organized crime activities.
Together, the executions of the Ming group and the Bai clan bring to at least 15 confirmed executions of scam syndicate leaders in a short span, reflecting a dramatic and public intensification of China’s efforts to deter organized telecom and online fraud tied to cross-border criminal hubs.
China’s crackdown targets an ecosystem of criminal compounds in Southeast Asia, particularly along the lawless border regions of Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, where scam parks have flourished, exploiting unstable governance, trafficking labour and international digital reach to defraud victims in China and around the world.
In addition to fraud and financial exploitation, the Bai family syndicate’s criminal portfolio was found to include:
- Intentional homicide and intentional injury tied to violent enforcement and internal discipline;
- Kidnapping and extortion of victims and workers;
- Forced prostitution in connection with the fraud operations; and
- In at least one case, collusion to manufacture and sell approximately 11 tonnes of methamphetamine, according to the court.
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The Shenzhen court described these actions as “exceptionally heinous, with particularly serious circumstances and consequences, posing a tremendous threat to society.”
Beijing has consistently emphasised cooperation with neighbouring governments, including Myanmar’s military authorities and others in the region, to tackle the proliferation of scam compounds and repatriate suspects for prosecution under Chinese law.
Thousands of alleged criminals and trafficking victims have reportedly been repatriated or arrested in recent years as part of this effort.
China’s intensified actions come amid sustained international pressure, from the United States, European partners and regional governments, to improve law enforcement responses to syndicates that exploit weak governance and armed conflicts in border regions for criminal enterprises.
Analysts interpret these high-profile executions not only as punitive justice for egregious crimes but also as a deterrent message aimed at other syndicates that have grown wealthy and brazen in running large-scale digital fraud operations.
Such networks have been attributed with exploiting global connectivity for pig butchering scams, romance frauds, fake investment schemes and other online deceptions targeted at victims worldwide.
China’s approach, involving death penalties for the most serious cases, highlights both its zero-tolerance policy toward crimes that kill or severely harm its citizens and its willingness to use the full extent of its judicial powers against transnational criminal operations.
Critics, however, point to the opaque nature of sentencing and execution in China’s justice system, raising debates over due process and transparency in high-profile crime prosecutions.
