SpaceX 'disabled' 2,500 Starlink kits in Myanmar scam centres

SpaceX has cut service to more than 2,500 Starlink devices at scam centres in Myanmar, a company vice-president said on Wednesday, after AFP revealed that the use of the satellite internet terminals had exploded in the illicit industry.

Meanwhile, an AFP journalist saw hundreds of people fleeing one of Myanmar's biggest fraud factories -- KK Park, bordering Thailand -- as a crackdown on the hub continued.

AFP's investigation this month revealed a construction boom at Myanmar's scam centres, particularly in the border area of Myawaddy, despite a highly publicised initial clampdown earlier this year.

Many of the centres appeared to have installed large numbers of Starlink internet receivers on their roofs after neighbouring Thailand cut their internet and power connections.

"SpaceX proactively identified and disabled over 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected 'scam centers'" in Myanmar, Lauren Dreyer, vice-president of Starlink business operations at Elon Musk's SpaceX, said on X.

Myanmar's military announced this week it had raided KK Park and seized 30 Starlink terminals, a fraction of those used at the site.

But an AFP journalist on Wednesday saw more than 1,000 people travelling away from the site on foot, by motorbike and crammed into pickup trucks, with one departing KK Park worker saying the crackdown was ongoing.