SpaceX cuts off 2,500 Starlink kits linked to Myanmar ‘scam city’ network

SpaceX said Wednesday it has disabled over 2,500 Starlink internet kits being used by cyber‑fraud syndicates operating from sprawling scam compounds in Myanmar, a step the company framed as part of routine enforcement — but one that has left hundreds of suspected scam‑center workers suddenly offline and stranded on a violent, chaotic frontier. “In Myanmar, for example, SpaceX proactively identified and disabled over 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected ‘scam centers,’” Lauren Dreyer, SpaceX’s vice president of business operations for Starlink, wrote on X. “On the rare occasion we identify a violation, we take appropriate action, including working with law enforcement agencies around the world.” Dreyer did not give a specific date for the shutdowns. The announcement follows recent high‑profile raids by Myanmar’s military junta — which said it uncovered dozens of Starlink receivers and accessories during an operation this week — and an investigation by news agencies that found terminals installed at scale on the roofs of purpose‑built compounds near the Thai border. Those compounds, officials and rights groups say, house organized networks that run romance and investment scams — sometimes known as “pig butchering” — that target victims in the US and elsewhere and siphon off billions of dollars. Workers inside the complexes are frequently lured with false job offers, trafficked across borders, and in many cases held against their will; former detainees have reported beatings and torture. A recent Australian Strategic Policy Institute report and Agence France‑Presse coverage described roughly 30 sprawling compounds clustered along the Moei River and nearby border towns. The Myanmar military told Thai and international media it has arrested thousands of foreign nationals from the compounds this year; between January and October the junta said it detained 9,551 foreigners and a previous Thai operation helped repatriate about 7,000 people. But experts warn those figures undercount the problem. “With international attention and outrage over Southeast Asia’s scamdemic rising, the Myanmar military is trying to skirt accountability for transforming the Myanmar‑Thailand border lands into a hub for criminality,” said Jason Tower, a transnational crime expert at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. He called recent raids “more of a publicity stunt than a crackdown,” saying many compounds appear to remain in operation. Victims and former workers described chaos after internet service was cut. Kristalyn, who said she worked at KK Park — a notorious compound near Myawaddy — told CNN that internet was cut around noon one day this week and that bosses ordered people to leave. “Some of us are staying in abandoned houses, buildings and even some are just staying on the streets trying to cross the border. We have no food here. We have no money at all,” she said. SpaceX’s action comes amid growing global alarm over the scale and sophistication of online scam networks, which the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies to automate scams and move stolen funds. The US Congress has also opened an inquiry into Starlink’s alleged role in enabling the centers, according to media reports. Starlink, which advertises more than 6 million users worldwide, can reach remote areas by connecting homes and businesses via a constellation of low‑Earth‑orbit satellites. That reach has made it valuable to isolated communities — but also attractive to criminal operators seeking reliable, high‑speed internet where terrestrial infrastructure is weak or controlled by hostile actors. Disabling the terminals may blunt operations at some sites, but observers warned it is not a silver bullet. Rights groups caution that cutting internet access risks harming the many victims trapped inside the compounds, complicating rescue and repatriation efforts and potentially exposing vulnerable people to further harm when they try to flee. Meanwhile, criminal networks can pivot to other communications channels or relocate operations. The developments add urgency to questions about the tech industry’s responsibilities in conflict zones and ungoverned spaces. Regulators and lawmakers are pressing for clearer rules on detecting and deactivating illicit use of satellite broadband, and the issue is expected to be raised at regional forums such as the upcoming ASEAN summit. For now, the combination of corporate shutdowns, military raids and cross‑border policing has produced temporary disruption at some sites — and wide uncertainty for the thousands of people stuck in the middle. As investigators and rights monitors rush to document the fallout, one clear reality remains: a lucrative and ruthless industry has turned parts of the Myanmar–Thailand border into a global crime factory, and cutting the cables and satellites is only one part of a far harder fight.