Nearly 30 Billion Yuan in Gambling Fraud Funds: 21 Members of the Bai Family in Northern Myanmar Prosecuted

On the 11th, the Guangdong Provincial People's Procuratorate released a statement that the Shenzhen Municipal People's Procuratorate, after review, has recently filed a public prosecution with the Shenzhen Intermediate Court against Bai Suocheng, Bai Yingcang, and 21 others—the principal members of the Bai family criminal group that has long entrenched itself in Kokang, northern Myanmar, leveraging armed power and carrying out extensive telecom and online fraud targeting Chinese citizens—on multiple criminal charges.

The charges include fraud, operating gambling establishments, extortion, intentional homicide, intentional injury, kidnapping, and drug trafficking/manufacturing, among others.

Since the Ministry of Public Security launched a special operation to combat crimes involving Chinese citizens in northern Myanmar, China and Myanmar have worked together through law enforcement and a series of crackdowns, cumulatively arresting over 57,000 Chinese fraud suspects. These actions have dealt a devastating blow to the “Four Major Families” crime groups in Kokang, northern Myanmar. Recently, prosecutors have filed a special case prosecution against the Bai family criminal group.

● Supporting Troops with Fraud, Protecting Fraud with Troops

Since 2015, the Bai family criminal group in Kokang, northern Myanmar, led by Bai Suocheng, has capitalized on its family's influence in local politics, military, and economy to seize illegal profits by developing and building 41 major fraud and gambling park zones, including the Cangsheng Technology Park. The group attracted a large number of fraudulent and gambling crime rings to take up residence, targeting Chinese citizens with fake investment and financial schemes, paid task scams, online gambling, etc., and recruited or lured domestic personnel to illegally exit the country and participate in such criminal activities. The group followed the model of “supporting troops with fraud, protecting fraud with troops,” placing the gambling and fraud parks under armed control and “protection,” allowing “financiers” to violently control, abuse, beat, or even kill low-level scam operatives who would not submit, failed to achieve fraud performance, or tried to escape.

● Involved in More Than 31,000 Fraud Cases

Since November of the year before last, the Ministry of Public Security has assigned Shenzhen police to investigate the Bai family criminal group. So far, 36 major suspects in the group have been brought to justice. Authorities have found that under Bai Suocheng and Bai Yingcang, the group has caused the deaths of six Chinese citizens, has been involved in over 31,000 fraud cases, with fraudulent funds exceeding 10.6 billion yuan (about RM6.29 billion), gambling funds exceeding 18 billion yuan (about RM10.6 billion), and produced/trafficked about 11 tons of drugs.

CCTV reported that in November 2023, the Ministry of Public Security assigned the Guangdong Shenzhen police to investigate the Bai family criminal group case, and subsequently issued wanted notices for Bai Suocheng, Bai Yingcang, and Bai Yinglan. On January 30, 2024, based on the China-Myanmar law enforcement security cooperation mechanism, the Myanmar side handed over Bai Suocheng and Bai Yingcang to China. As of now, a total of 36 key suspects linked to the Bai family criminal group have been brought to justice.

The so-called “Four Major Families of Kokang”—also known as the “Four Major Families of Northern Myanmar”—refer to the four families that controlled the region’s politics, economy, and military from 2009 to 2023: the Bai Suocheng family, Wei Chaoren family, and the two Liu families (Liu Jiawei/Liu Guoxi family and Liu Zhengxiang family). In addition, there is the emerging Ming family, so sometimes they are referred to as the Five Major Families.