Myanmar crypto scam law allows death penalty for forced scam labor

Myanmar crypto scam law enforcement is set to get much harsher after the country’s military-backed parliament approved the Anti-Online Scam Bill on Tuesday. For retail crypto users, the move is another sign that governments are treating digital-asset fraud as cross-border crime with criminal-justice consequences.

The law allows capital punishment for people who use violence or unlawful detention to force others into online scam work when that abuse results in death, according to a May draft of the bill and a report by AFP. The full law has not been released publicly, so the most detailed provisions available come from that draft and from comments by lower house MP Aye Chan to AFP.

Aye Chan told AFP that the death penalty remained in the version approved by parliament and that the bill’s main sections were left intact. The May draft also set a maximum sentence of life in prison for operating an online scam center or carrying out what it called digital currency scams, meaning crypto scams.

What does Myanmar's crypto scam law do?

The May draft created penalties for both the people running scam centers and those accused of forcing others to work in them. It set prison terms of 10 years to life for coercion-related offenses and life imprisonment as the top penalty for scam-center operators or people convicted of crypto scam activity.

A scam center, in this context, refers to a site where online fraud is organized and run, often across borders. The concern for crypto investors is direct: many of these schemes use digital assets because crypto can move quickly between wallets, exchanges and countries, which can make recovery difficult once funds leave a victim’s control.

The bill is the first law passed under the government of Min Aung Hlaing, who led Myanmar’s 2021 coup and became civilian president in April. Under Myanmar’s constitution, one-quarter of seats in both houses of parliament are reserved for the military, totaling 166 seats, according to Al Jazeera. The military-aligned USDP won 339 of the remaining seats in phased elections that the dissolved party of Aung San Suu Kyi was not allowed to contest.

Why are scam compounds in Asia drawing more attention?

The U.S. Treasury said in May 2025 that it had sanctioned the Karen National Army, previously known as the Karen Border Guard Force, as a transnational criminal organization. Treasury said territory controlled by the group along the Thai border contains multiple cyber scam syndicates and that the KNA has benefited from ties to Myanmar’s military. The KNA denies taking part in scam operations.

The scale is regional, not only domestic. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that scam operations across East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania caused between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion in losses in 2025. The UNODC also said people from at least 80 countries have been found inside scam compounds.

Other governments are also responding. Cambodia has advanced legislation that would allow life sentences for scam compound bosses, and U.S. prosecutors this month seized $25 million in crypto tied to investment and romance scams routed through the region. The UNODC has warned that law enforcement in the region still struggles to trace proceeds on-chain, meaning by following transactions recorded on blockchains.

This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.