It was just after sunset on October 24 when residents of Mae Kut Sung Mai village, along Thailand's picturesque north-western border with Myanmar, heard an ungodly sound.
Just 500 metres from their homes, across the Moei River, the Myanmar military was bombing buildings in KK Park, one of the world's most notorious and secretive scam centres.
In the hours and days that followed, the bombings continued.
More than 1,500 foreign scam workers escaped to Thailand, most of them from India, China and the Philippines.
Bystanders shot phone footage of people clinging to foam boxes as they struggled to swim across the river. There were reports that some died trying.
It was the latest offensive by the Myanmar military against online scamming businesses operated by transnational syndicates within its borders.
The multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry has entrapped victims across the globe, and has emerged as a modern scourge perpetrated by the same groups involved in money laundering, illegal gambling and human trafficking.
Under increasing pressure from the governments of the US, China, South Korea and Thailand, Myanmar's junta has detained more than 10,000 foreign nationals over the past nine months.
They had illegally entered the country and were working in the scam centres.
But despite the actions, experts say the recent crackdowns in Myanmar are merely a show and could just be the tip of the iceberg.
Crackdown just 'political theatre'
Myanmar's clamp down on scam centres has been welcomed by governments. But experts say the efforts are not enough if the country intends to address the issue.In a 2023 report, the UN cited "credible sources" in estimating that there were at least 120,000 people across the country who may be trapped working in scam operations.
The report said traffickers lured people across South-East Asia and beyond with false job advertisements, then forced them to work in the scam centres.
Jason Tower, a senior analyst with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said there could have been some 25,000 scammers working in KK Park alone before it was destroyed.
The removal of 10,000 scammers nationwide would barely make a dent in operations, he said.
"I think some very, very misinformed people have started saying, 'Look, the Myanmar military is dismantling scam compounds,'" he told the ABC.
"The reality is that this is just another iteration of political theatre. And we've seen constant political theatre coming out of Myanmar with respect to scam centres over the past two years."
At KK Park, the first telltale sign of this "political theatre" was that the compound was guarded by a militia who worked for Myanmar's military.
"It's the military going to its own Border Guard Forces area without police, without the intention of gathering evidence, without going through any process of indicting anyone," said Mr Tower, who has been closely tracking the rise of scam operations across South-East Asia for seven years.
"[If they were serious] they would start to issue arrest warrants for known perpetrators, investigate them. There'd be legal proceedings. There would be joint military police operations. You're not seeing any of that stuff right now."
The junta has denied any involvement with organised crime syndicates when pressed by foreign media. Instead, it has blamed the Karen National Union, an ethnic army that has been locked in a war with the military for decades.
But that is a non-starter, according to Mr Tower's research.
"Only armed groups that have ceasefire agreements with the Myanmar military — or who are integrated into the Myanmar military's command structure … are operating large-scale scam facilities," he said.
A possible money grab
The obvious question remains: why would Myanmar's government go to the trouble of bombing KK Park?
The answer could be as simple and as sinister as a money grab.
"What we've heard is the Myanmar military knows just how lucrative these things are, and they know that the kingpins in Cambodia had $15 billion in cryptocurrency stashed away somewhere," Mr Tower said.
"So … it's trying to negotiate a bigger share of the proceeds. And in the case of KK Park, they [the scam centre bosses] weren't prepared to hand over more of the proceeds to the Myanmar military. So the Myanmar military moved in."
It is a deft manoeuvre by the junta: outwardly appeasing the international community, while internally extorting more money from the very scam centres it purports to be fighting.
A hotspot for scam centres
Along Myanmar's 2,400-kilometre border with Thailand, there are signs that business is good for the scam centres.
More than 40 compounds are currently operating there, and when the ABC drove along the Thai side of the divide in October, we could clearly see expansive construction at some of the sites.
"If you go down into Three Pagodas Pass [on the border between Thailand and Myanmar], you've got a massive scam compound in the range of 25 to 30 buildings," Mr Tower said.
"People are estimating that there's 4,000 to 5,000 people already in there.
"There's also reports of scam centres moving further inland into Myanmar. No-one really sees it, so there's less attention to it."
India last week repatriated 270 of a total 465 Indian citizens who had fled KK Park. The ABC understands a further 195 will be flown out today.
However, as the Myanmar government touts its closure of KK Park, just kilometres away — hidden from international scrutiny — the scam business could be about to hit overdrive.
