Myanmar’s combined parliament, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, approved the Anti-Online Scam Bill on July 28 after reconciling amendments from its lower and upper chambers, according to a report by the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar. The bill criminalizes digital-currency fraud, online scam centers, forced scam labor and the financial infrastructure that supports fraud networks, while also creating new enforcement bodies and cross-border coordination powers to pursue scam operations.
What the Bill Penalizes and Enforces
The final amended text, a presidential assent notice and a commencement date were not publicly available as of July 29. That means the exact penalties still rest on the 63-section May draft, which proposed prison terms of 10 years to life for operating a scam center or committing digital currency fraud, a category the draft applies to cryptocurrency transactions used to disguise or move scam proceeds, along with provisions covering recruitment, financial facilitation and telecom support tied to organized fraud.
The May draft also allowed life imprisonment or capital punishment for violence, torture, unlawful arrest or cruel treatment used to force someone into scam work, and required the death penalty when that conduct caused death.
Although Lower House lawmaker Aye Chan told AFP the final version kept its death-penalty provision for scam-related killings and made few changes to its core sections, the enacted wording has not been released, so it is not yet possible to independently confirm whether every offense and sentencing range survived the amendment process unchanged.
The legislation sets up a central committee, regional bodies and an Anti-Scam Centre, and authorizes coordination with foreign governments plus information sharing between banks, telecom providers and state agencies, including account freezes and confiscation of scam proceeds.
What This Means for Crypto Users in Southeast Asia
Human Rights Myanmar has called the bill a repressive security instrument, warning its surveillance, account-freezing and website-blocking powers could target journalists and political opponents. The group also flagged the death penalty provisions and the lack of independent oversight, though these remain advocacy assessments, not court findings.
For crypto holders and platforms operating in Southeast Asia, the law formalizes data sharing among banks, telecom providers, and state agencies, along with new powers to freeze accounts and confiscate proceeds or equipment tied to scams. That could mean more compliance requests and account holds for exchanges with exposure to the region, even before the rules are publicly enacted.
Why Scam Compounds Keep Growing Despite the Crackdown
Satellite imagery reviewed by Wired identified at least 25 suspected scam sites built or expanded around Myawaddy in the first half of 2026, and the International Justice Mission said the construction suggests earlier crackdowns failed to stop the networks.
A July UN Office on Drugs and Crime assessment found fraud groups responding to raids by dispersing, relocating, and breaking into smaller operations rather than shutting down. These networks tend to follow similar patterns wherever they operate, as we found in our coverage of a money laundering kingpin tied to a comparable scheme.
What to Watch Next in the DOJ Case and Law Text
Watch for whether Myanmar’s government publishes the enacted law text and whether enforcement reduces compound activity, given that the U.S. Justice Department charged two Chinese nationals in April over an alleged crypto-investment fraud compound and restrained roughly $700 million in cryptocurrency tied to the case.
What this means for you: If you hold crypto or use exchanges with ties to Southeast Asia, expect more account checks, freezes, and requests for bank or telecom data tied to anti-scam enforcement in the region. The bill authorizes that coordination now, even though its exact penalties and rules are not yet public. Confirm with your platform how it plans to handle Myanmar-linked account reviews once the law takes effect.
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