As the drizzle fell, Sai Pan sat on the express bus, passing through one checkpoint after another, looking forward to starting his new, well paid job.

As the bus left the rough road it had been on and joined a smooth new road Sai Pan's view was filled with the towering buildings of Shwe Kokko rising in the distance. As he drew closer, Sai Pan’s enthusiasm started to be replaced by apprehension.

His destination, Shwe Kokko New City is in Myawaddy Township, Karen State and separated from Thailand by the Thaungyin (Moei) River. Despite being so close to Thailand it more closely resembles China with its Chinese signs.  

Sai Pan said: “Before I came, I was excited by the promise of a 1 million kyats (MMK) monthly salary. But the moment I arrived and saw Shwe Kokko, an inexplicable, burden-like stress settled over me. I felt gloomy, as though I had stepped into China. Still, I had no other choice, so I went through with it.”

Sai Pan is a 25-year-old man from Taunggyi City in southern Shan State. Before the February 2021 coup he had a stable business selling consumer goods online, but since mid 2023 his business had been in decline. So when he was offered a job in Myawaddy Township promising a high salary of 15,000 Thai Baht (THB) a month he decided to take a risk and accept the job.

He said: “15,000 THB was even more than 1 million MMK at the exchange rate back then. My business was struggling to make a profit of 200,000 MMK in an entire month. So, I decided to take the risk, hoping to earn more.”

Little did Sai Pan know, but he would soon be entangled with the notorious telephone scamming operations, also called Zhapian by the Burmese, being run out of Shwe Kokko.

When he arrived at the scam centre he was surprised to meet well educated Burmese people working there, including medical students, engineers, and computer science graduates.

When he realised he had to scam people Sai Pan did not want to do the work, but he was trapped and had to work because he did not have enough money left to return home.

"I didn’t want to continue because it was a scamming job—I had to deceive people. But if I didn’t perform well, the business owners would fire me immediately. I deeply regretted coming to Shwe Kokko, but I didn’t even have enough money to return home. So, I had no choice but to keep going, even though I hated the job,” he said, his voice noticeably faltering as he spoke.

He says he is exhausted by constantly having to deceive innocent people and that the Chinese scam centre bosses exploit and unfairly treat him and the other scam centre workers.

There are about 400 people working in each scam centre. They work in large enclosed halls with poor ventilation and face dismissal or pay cuts if they do not reach targets set for them by their bosses.

If he wanted to leave and get another job Sai Pan could, but the only jobs available in Shwe Kokko are other scamming jobs. So though Sai Pan can switch employees he cannot change the type of work he has to do.

He said: “Getting hired was really easy for me, but the real challenge was staying in the job. After about four months, I managed to find another day job, which gave me some breathing room. At first, I didn’t even get my first salary until I had worked for about 45 days. I was constantly worried about being fired before getting paid. There was nowhere to complain if I was treated unfairly. In fact, even those who did complain were afraid of being arrested.”

Shwe Kokko, often referred to as the ‘Chinatown of Karen State’, is a new city project jointly developed by Colonel Saw Chit Thu, the leader of the junta-aligned Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) and the Hong Kong-registered Yatai International Holdings Group.

Before the coup, electricity for Shwe Kokko came from Thailand. However, following the coup, Thai authorities cut off the electricity supply. Despite this, Shwe Kokko continues to operate, relying on big generators and solar power.

Shwe Kokko has developed into a gambling hub and a stronghold for scam businesses. Its tightly restricted and opaque environment makes it challenging for outsiders to gain access or leave.

This was an advantage for Ma Khaing, another scam centre worker also lured to the area by false job promises. Before coming to Shwe Kokko she took part in the anti-junta  Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) where participants, such as civil servants and people working in health and education, refuse to work for the junta. As a CDM participant Ma Khaing no longer had employment and was persecuted by the junta authorities.

A job offer from Shwe Kokko seemed to offer the perfect escape. She could earn good money and stay in an area out of the reach of junta persecution.

She explained: “As a CDM participant, it’s not safe for me to live freely outside. My family is constantly worried about my safety. At the same time, I’m the only one my household can rely on for income, and I can’t afford to go abroad for work. In the end, this was the path I chose.”

When Ma Kaing realised she would have to work scamming people she was disgusted but felt as if she was trapped in deep mud and unable to escape.

In her workplace there are about 350 young workers overseen by five Chinese-speaking security guards, in black suits armed with truncheons, who keep a constant watch over all of them.

In front of them, each worker has a computer and between two to ten mobile phones depending on the work assigned to them. They are constantly monitored from behind.

Though she works on a computer Ma Kaing is forbidden from using it for personal browsing or anything not to do with her work.

“Anyone caught using phones or computers for anything unrelated to work would get fired. They’re always watching us from behind. I’ve been here for quite a while, so I’m used to most situations, but I still get nervous every time I see someone else being pulled out in front of me for a mistake,” she said.

Everyday Ma Kaing has to try to entrap strangers into a scam by sending them deceptive messages on WeChat and Telegram. She often initiates contact by pretending that she has called or messaged the wrong person before entering into a conversation with them that will often end up with the victim being scammed of their life savings.

“I have to admit that now, I’ve become quite skillful at fraud. They’ve already provided us with formats to carry out these scams. Since entering this business, no one has the chance to use their real skills or talents. They’ll spend all their time just deceiving others,” she said, her voice tinged with sadness.

Ma Khaing also admitted to feeling ashamed every time that her mother back home reminds her on the phone to not forget her religion.

She said: “Every time I call, my mother reminds me not to forget the Buddha and Dhamma. I always feel ashamed hearing that. If I had the chance, I would like to do a decent job outside, one that gives me dignity. But no one understands my suffering better than I do. In these times of rising prices, it's very hard for me to give up a well-paying job.”

Sai Pan well summed up the fate of those who come to work at the scam centres when he said: “As young people, we can't afford to think about the future. We take these awful jobs with just one goal in mind: to make more money. Our dreams have long since faded.”

There has been a huge increase in the number of scam centres since the coup as the junta and their allies are making a lot of money, which is vital for the junta as it struggles to obtain foreign currency.

Initially there were many scam centres on the border with China, but the Brotherhood Alliance cracked down on them and drove many of the scam centre operators away from the Chinese border during Operation 1027.

Many of the scam centre operators from the Chinese border have been relocating to the Karen State border with Thailand, under the protection of the Karen BGF. Though the BGF issued an order telling all scam centre operators operating in areas such as Shwe Kokko, Wang Kha, and KK Park to leave Karen State by 30 September 2024, the centres have continued to flourish in Karen State under the BGF’s protection.

There are still many job adverts luring young workers to the scam centres in Shwe Kokko with fake jobs promising high salaries.

Since 2022 foreigners have also been tricked, kidnapped and trafficked to work in Myanmar scam centres. They are subjected to forced labour, torture, and severe human rights abuses and include people from Laos, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and China.

On the surface, Shwe Kokko presents itself as a beautiful, sophisticated new city bustling with foreigners, especially the Chinese. However, beneath this facade lies a much darker reality—a place where trafficked foreigners work as slaves and Myanmar’s promising young people sacrifice their dreams of a bright future, all in the struggle to support their families.