Fraud compounds where scammers lure internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in the lawless borderlands of Myanmar.
Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world.
Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work.
In recent years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation with regional governments to crack down on the compounds, and thousands of people have been repatriated to face trial in China's opaque justice system.
The 11 people executed Thursday were sentenced to death in September by a court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou, Xinhua said, adding that the court also carried out the executions.
Crimes of those executed included "intentional homicide, intentional injury, unlawful detention, fraud and casino establishment", Xinhua said.
The death sentences were approved by the Supreme People's Court in Beijing, which found that the evidence produced of crimes committed since 2015 was "conclusive and sufficient", the report said.
Among the executed were members of the "Ming family criminal group", whose activities had contributed to the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to "many others".
"The criminals' close relatives were allowed to meet with them before the execution," Xinhua added.
Fraud operations centred in Myanmar's border regions have extracted billions of dollars from around the world through phone and internet scams.
Experts say most of the centres are run by Chinese-led crime syndicates working with Myanmar militias.
The fraud activities and crackdowns by Beijing are closely followed in China.
The September rulings that resulted in Thursday's executions also included death sentences with two-year reprieves to five other individuals.
Another 23 suspects were given prison sentences ranging from five years to life.
In November, Chinese authorities sentenced five people to death for their involvement in scam operations in Myanmar's Kokang region.
Their crimes had led to the deaths of six Chinese nationals, according to state media reports.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned in April that the cyberscam industry was spreading across the world, including to South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and some Pacific Islands.
The UN has estimated that hundreds of thousands of people are working in scam centres globally.
Britain and China agree to fight migrant smuggling networks
Beijing (AFP) Jan 28, 2026 -
Britain and China are set to sign a cooperation agreement on Thursday targeting supply chains used by migrant smugglers, Downing Street said, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Beijing.
Starmer arrived on Wednesday for the first visit by a British prime minister to China since 2018, seeking to promote what he called "pragmatic" partnership with the Asian giant after years of fraught relations.
The issue of irregular migrants is highly sensitive for the Labour leader, who has promised to crack down on people smugglers and stem a wave of arrivals that has fuelled rising support for the far-right.
Last year, nearly 42,000 migrants landed on England's southern coast after making the perilous Channel crossing from northern France -- the second-highest annual number.
"More than half of small boat engines used by people smugglers crossing the English Channel are manufactured in China," a statement from Downing Street said, as Starmer is set to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The two leaders are due to meet for lunch in Beijing on Thursday, when Starmer will also sit down with Premier Li Qiang.
The agreement to be signed calls for intelligence sharing and "direct engagement with Chinese manufacturers" of boat parts to ensure they are not "being exploited by organised crime", the statement said.
The deal also seeks to boost cooperation on combatting the trafficking of "highly potent and dangerous synthetic opioids such as nitazenes, known to be produced in China and exported to the UK", it added.
On Wednesday, Starmer told a delegation of around 60 business leaders and cultural representatives accompanying him that "it is in our national interest to engage with China."
He urged them to seize the "opportunities" offered by China and said the visit was "making history".
"You're part of the change that we're bringing about," Starmer said.
The trip has been lauded by Downing Street as a chance to boost trade and investment ties while raising thorny issues such as national security and human rights.
Starmer follows a string of Western leaders courting Beijing in recent weeks, pivoting from a mercurial United States.
Britain has faced a rift with its closest ally following President Donald Trump's bid to seize Greenland and his brief threat of tariffs against the UK and other NATO allies.
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