Thai Government Cuts Power to Areas of Myanmar to Curb Cybercrime Ops

In a possibly unprecedented move, the government of Thailand on Wednesday cut the supply of power and other utilities to a handful of towns in Myanmar on the northern border of Thailand in an effort to halt the operations of cybercrime groups known to operate from those areas. 

This kind of reaction in the physical realm to cybercrime operations is quite rare. Law enforcement agencies routinely seize servers and other equipment associated with cybercrime operations during raids and arrests, and freezing bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets is also quite common. But cutting the power, gas, and other utilities as a method for crippling cybercrime groups is something that hasn’t been seen often, if ever. 

The move is a result of what Thailand officials said was economic and national security damage caused by the cybercrime groups in Myanmar. Those groups are known to operate a variety of romance and financial fraud scams from buildings in Myanmar that are staffed with people who often have been tricked into taking on jobs they thought were legitimate. 

“Today, the government said we must stop, because you supply our electricity to those who cause damage to our country,” Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said, according to the AP.

The types of cybercrime operations the Thai government targeted with this move include online romance scams, illegal gambling, and financial fraud that have become a major industry in some corners of the world, especially southeast Asia. These operations have been around in one form or another for many years, but have boomed in the last few years. International law enforcement agencies have targeted these groups, but usually through their online presences or financial infrastructure. 

Cutting the power to the areas in which these groups operate is something that you might expect to see in a B movie or airport novel. But it could prove to be an effective tactic, especially in remote areas without easy access to backup power or internet connectivity.