Efforts to shut down online scam centers in Myanmar appear to gain momentum with a visit by a top Chinese official to the border zone ahead of expected large-scale repatriations of workers in the illi

Hundreds of Chinese nationals who worked at online fraud centers in eastern Myanmar began to head home on Thursday from an airport in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, Thai officials said.

China will fly home about 200 of its nationals found in scam-running compounds on the Thai-Myanmar border, a Thai security official said on Tuesday, as part of a multinational effort to crack down on illegal online operations run from the region.

Myanmar authorities detained 273 foreigners from scam compounds along the border with Thailand on Monday, as a senior Chinese official visited frontier towns on both sides in a widening crackdown on illegal online operations.