Elon Musk’s Starlink is being exploited by criminal organizations to run modern slavery compounds in Myanmar, a Wired investigation has unearthed.
The compounds, where thousands of individuals have been coerced into committing digital scams, are using Starlink’s satellite technology for internet connectivity after traditional access was blocked. Wired’s revelations, shared by workers from fraud companies in Tai Chang, suggest extensive use of Starlink.
At least eight scam compounds located along the Myanmar-Thailand border illegally deployed Starlink to collectively log more than 40,000 mobile phone connections in what amounts to a multibillion-dollar business, officials said. Despite efforts to cut off internet and electricity services to the camps, the scams are expanding in scope, government authorities said.
Officials have asked Starlink to intervene without success, according to the report.
“We’ve been exposing scam centers in Southeast Asia and uncovered solid proof that cybercriminals in this region are exploiting Starlink for massive fraud,” Rangsiman Rome, a member of Thailand’s House of Representatives, said in a post on social media platform X addressed to Musk. “This is a serious issue with real-world consequences. We have been pushing for immediate actions from our government to cut electricity and internet to the compounds, but they have begun to utilize Starlink to access the internet instead.”
Last year, Erin West, then-deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County, learned of the criminal enterprise from its victims, and subsequently contacted Starlink’s parent company SpaceX and urged executives there to act. West said she didn’t hear back from SpaceX.
Some 120,000 people have been trafficked into scam compounds in Myanmar, which have also been linked to Chinese fraudsters, according to a 2023 United Nations report.
While officials in Asia and the U.S. await a response from Musk and SpaceX, the ongoing scandal is likely to have broader implications for SpaceX and U.S. regulatory bodies. Brendan Carr, the new Federal Communications Commission chairman, has strongly indicated Starlink will be awarded more government contracts. At the same time, GOP leaders want the company to get a slice of former President Joe Biden’s $42 billion internet plan, and they’ve recently pushed for Starlink to become a tool for linking disaster areas.
Starlink isn’t the only tech company to grapple with misuse of its technology for criminal enterprises. Recently, Meta Platforms Inc. said it had cooperated with law enforcement to disrupt illegal operations from scam compounds in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates.
