US Congressional committee investigating Musk’s Starlink company over fraud centers in Myanmar | Myanmar
A powerful bipartisan panel in the US Congress said it has launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite company’s involvement in providing internet access to scam centers in Myanmar, which is blamed for defrauding billions of victims around the world.
The move comes as it was revealed that large numbers of Starlink dishes began appearing on the roofs of fraud centers in Myanmar around the time of a February crackdown that was supposed to take down the centers, according to an AFP investigation.
Starlink came from nowhere to become the largest internet provider in the war-torn country within three months, data from the Asian Regional Internet Registry APNIC shows.
SpaceX, the owner of Starlink, did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.
The US Congress’s Joint Economic Committee told the news agency that it began an investigation in July into Starlink’s involvement with fraud centers. The committee has the authority to have Musk testify before it.
China, Thailand and Myanmar forced militias loyal to Myanmar’s junta protecting the centers to pledge to “eliminate” the complexes in February. They have freed about 7,000 people – most of them Chinese citizens – from the brutal call center system, which the United Nations says relies on forced labor and human trafficking.
Many workers said they were beaten and forced to work long hours by scam bosses who target victims around the world with phone, internet and social media scams.
Senator Maggie Hassan, the senior Democratic representative on the US Congressional Committee, called on Musk to block Starlink service from fraud factories.
“Although most people have probably noticed the increasing number of fraudulent texts, calls and emails, they may not know that transnational criminals halfway across the world may be committing these scams using Starlink internet access,” she said.
The senator wrote to Musk in July demanding answers to 11 questions about Starlink’s role.
“It is abhorrent that an American company would allow this to happen,” said former California Attorney General Erin West, who now heads the campaign group Operation Shamrock against the centers.
While still a cybercrime prosecutor, Starlink warned in July 2024 that Chinese crime syndicates running the centers were using its technology, but received no response.
Americans are among the biggest targets for scammers in Southeast Asia, losing an estimated $10 billion last year, up 66% in 12 months, the US Treasury said.
Up to 120,000 people may be forced to “carry out cyber fraud” in Myanmar centres, according to a 2023 UN report.
On the border between Thailand and Myanmar, new buildings within heavily guarded compounds around Myawaddy are appearing at a rapid pace, some equipped with Starlink receivers, satellite images and drone footage showed by AFP.
Analysis of satellite images from Planet Labs PBC found dozens of buildings going up or being altered in the largest of the complexes, KK Park, between March and September.