China has executed 11 members of a criminal syndicate convicted of luring foreigners — including hundreds of Kenyans — into scam and fraud compounds in northern Myanmar.

The group, identified by Chinese state media as part of the notorious Ming family criminal organization, was sentenced to death last year by a court in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province on charges including intentional homicide, fraud, unlawful detention and running illegal gambling operations.

The syndicate allegedly targeted job seekers with fake work offers and forced them into large-scale telecom and online fraud operations in remote scam centres, part of a multibillion-dollar transnational scam industry in Southeast Asia.

Appeals were rejected by China’s higher courts before the executions were carried out on today, Thursday. The crackdown is part of Beijing’s ongoing efforts to dismantle cross-border fraud rings that have trafficked victims from multiple countries and caused significant financial and human harm.