{"id":230780,"date":"2025-10-28T20:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T20:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/230780\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T20:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T20:56:09","slug":"starlink-halts-service-to-myanmar-scam-centers-amid-congressional-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/230780\/","title":{"rendered":"Starlink Halts Service to Myanmar Scam Centers Amid Congressional Probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starlink satellite internet<\/a> has become a popular option for people who cannot otherwise access traditional internet like cable or fiber<\/a>. It has also been a key tool for crime syndicates in Southeast Asia looking to scam Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SpaceX, Starlink\u2019s parent company, recently cut access to 2,500 Starlink satellites being used in notorious scam centers in Myanmar, the company said on Oct. 21.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The news comes a week after a report by Agence France-Presse<\/a> (AFP) revealed that the Musk-led company is currently under investigation by Congress\u2019s Joint Economic Committee for its role in the scam centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the rare occasion we identify a violation, we take appropriate action, including working with law enforcement agencies around the world,\u201d said Lauren Dreyer, SpaceX\u2019s vice president of business operations for Starlink, in a post on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Treasury Department<\/a>, Americans lost more than $10 billion in 2024 to Southeast Asia-based scam operations, notorious for romance scams<\/a> known as \u201cpig-butchering.\u201d By some estimates,<\/a> these syndicates take in as much as $64 billion a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe border region fraud factories are typically run by Chinese criminal syndicates, analysts say, often overseen by Myanmar militias given tacit backing by the Myanmar junta in return for guaranteeing security,\u201d the AFP article says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In February, a sweeping crackdown led by China freed as many as 7,000 scam-workers, who the AFP suspects are prisoners, from the Myanmar compounds. At the same time, Thailand cut power and internet services<\/a> powering the scam centers in neighboring Myanmar. Soon after, the scam centers used thousands of Starlink satellites to fill that void.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Asian regional internet registry<\/a>, APNIC, Starlink did not have enough traffic in Myanmar to even make the list of the country\u2019s internet providers before February. But after Thailand cut off other services, it quickly rose to the top. The APNIC data shows that it was the most used internet provider in the country every day from July 3 until Oct. 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This apparently got the attention of Congress. The AFP reports that the Joint Economic Committee opened an investigation into Starlink\u2019s use in Myanmar\u2019s scam centers in July.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSpaceX has a responsibility to acknowledge any role that Starlink has played in facilitating scams emanating from Southeast Asia, and to block these criminals from using the service to target Americans,\u201d said Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-NH, in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Starlink is not officially licensed in Myanmar, the service is enabled worldwide by default, says satellite industry consultant Tim Farrar. But where it\u2019s active is a bit of a geopolitical gray area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStarlink has resisted attempts by governments such as Iran, which has complained to the [International Telecommunication Union] seeking to have the service shut off, and in that case SpaceX has received active encouragement from the US government to provide service to dissidents using terminals smuggled into the country,\u201d Farrar told CNET in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SpaceX did not respond to CNET\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How to protect yourself from scams<\/p>\n

Be suspicious of unsolicited email, text or social media messages. Pig-butchering scams work by building trust with the target over weeks or even months. If someone reaches out who says they are overseas or can\u2019t meet in person, proceed with caution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Never send money to someone you don\u2019t know in real life. No matter what reason they give, always treat someone asking you for money online with skepticism. Scammers may also ask for the key to your cryptocurrency wallet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Research the person you\u2019re speaking with. Anyone you\u2019ve met online will likely have some sort of online presence. Check out their social media profiles to make sure it doesn\u2019t smell fishy. You can also do a reverse-image search<\/a> of any photos they provide to see if they check out.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As always, follow cybersecurity best practices. Take a moment to make sure you have passwords<\/a> in place, use two-factor authentication<\/a> and make sure your antivirus software<\/a>, operating systems<\/a> and apps<\/a> are all up to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Report any crimes immediately. If you think you\u2019ve been scammed, report it immediately to the FTC<\/a> and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starlink satellite internet has become a popular option for people who cannot otherwise access traditional internet like cable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-230780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}