Jason Tower

JASON TOWER (@Jason_Tower79) gives us a close look at Beijing’s footprint in Myanmar, from ammunition flows to private militias and criminal crackdowns, and unpacks the complicated, often messy, behind-the-scenes relationships shaping it all. 🇲🇲🇨🇳 theredlinepodcast.com/post/is-china-…

.@orfonline hosted a discussion on 'Myanmar's Managed Elections: The Way Ahead'. The talk explored the recent #MyanmarElections, following a 5-year military-led coup that toppled the then National League of Democracy (NLD) government. Featuring: @DrCchaviVasisht, @Kalita77j, @Jason_Tower79, Moe Thuzar, and @sushantsareen

Hostage diplomacy: Is the Myanmar military weaponizing foreign trafficking victims to gain leverage over ASEAN around its sham election? @inquirerdotnet reports on the challenges faced by Filipino victims struggling to return from Myanmar globalnation.inquirer.net/310919/78-fili…

This week on our podcast What's Happening in Myanmar, regime releases election results, military appointees are assigned to parliament, and expert Jason Tower discusses resistance infighting and how the China-scam nexus affects regime politics. Listen: frontiermyanmar.net/en/resistance-…

Inside Myanmar’s BRUTAL Scam Factories with Producer of TRT World’s Emmy Award-winning Off the Grid series @mouhssine, Transnational Organised Crime expert @Jason_Tower79 and Director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates @Reaproy Click the link below for the full show ⬇️⬇️ youtube.com/watch?v=uA5CIO…

Liu Jiguang was central to the Fully Light Group, which operated several dozen scam compounds and casinos in Kokang, and continues to have assets all over Myanmar. Liu obtained a Cambodia passport around 2019, opened a scam center in Sihanoukville, and rumored to be in Cambodia

Bai Yingneng was the son of BGF founder Bai Suocheng (sentenced to death earlier this year) and was a key representative of the military’s proxy party, the USDP, including party chair for Kokang.

The Chinese police going after the rest of Min Aung Hlaing’s Kokang border guard force friends? 12/9, China issues arrest warrants and awards of 200,000 yuan for 100 suspects, including key ppl not previously targeted from the Bai and Liu families

@Jason_Tower79 A Burmese translation by Mizzima: bur.mizzima.com/2025/10/11/699…

@sheehanj920 BGF/KNA, DKBA, UWSA, NDAA, SSPP

@Jason_Tower79 curious who you include in the "five main militia groups involved in running large-scale scam operations in Myanmar"? BGF/KNA, DKBA, UWSA, SSPP, MNDAA? or are you referring to more localized militias like the Mongha, Manpang, & (some) Lahu militia?

The rise of ‘patriotic’ scamming: China-linked scam syndicates operating in Myanmar continue to pivot towards targeting the U.S., EU, Japan, and other countries. I look here at how China’s moves in Myanmar are accelerating these trends. globalinitiative.net/analysis/china…

China-linked scam syndicates continue to go global: newest destination exposed is Egypt, where authorities uncovered a scam syndicate following reports of a Chinese tourist allegedly being kidnapped in Cairo. Eight suspects arrested, and a cache of arms seized in the process.

Pleased to share my first article in my new role @GI_TOC; here I provide an update on the continued expansion of Myanmar’s scam empire, and suggestions on how to address these growing threats to regional and global security.

20 year old girl’s family likely paid over US$25,000 in ransom before completely disappearing on 6/30.

One rescued, another trafficked? China seems to have failed miserably at preventing its nationals from being trafficked into the scam empire established by the Myanmar army’s Border Guard Force aka the KNA. After rescuing the model Zhong Haobin last week, reports of new victim?

Wang Xing 2.0? yet another model trafficked into Myanmar’s scam cities; Zhong Haobin went missing in June according to police reports; Chinese celebrities once again calling for action. Meanwhile complete impunity in Karen as the Karen BGF continues to operate massive scam cities

Following the money: Thai authorities advance initiative to address the laundering of illicit funds generated by online scams through cryptocurrency exchanges; such exchanges have proliferated across the region, and are key to the pig-butchering scams. thethaiger.com/news/phuket/cr…

Myanmar’s scam economy continues to expand: on 4/23, 920 additional individuals repatriated to China, including from Mong Hsu, a town under influence of the Shan State Army North, a close ally of the United Wa State Army. Locations increasingly inland — 300+ miles from Tachileik

Meanwhile, after initially canceling Water Festival celebrations, the holiday is still celebrated in Shwe Kokko, with a large signboard reading “never give up SKK” and a renewed ad campaign for the main SKK KTV club.

Criminal victory in Myawaddy? Any progress eradicating scam centers on the Myanmar-Thai border has halted as new scam centers emerge, and as the Yatai IHG brings a new “shooting range” online on 4/12 showing off heavily armed security forces; meanwhile ads for scam jobs pick up