US sanctions companies and individuals behind Southeast Asian scam centers

The United States has sanctioned nearly 20 companies and individuals in Myanmar and Cambodia for their involvement in part of a multibillion-dollar global scam industry built on the back of enslaved human trafficking victims.

The Treasury Department on Monday announced it had issued financial and diplomatic sanctions on nine targets operating in Myanmar’s notorious Shwe Kokko city, and 10 in Cambodia.

“Southeast Asia’s cyber scam industry not only threatens the well-being and financial security of Americans, but also subjects thousands of people to modern slavery,” undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K Hurley said in a statement, adding that Americans last year lost more than $10bn from scam operations originating in the region.

The department said it had issued sanctions against Tin Win, Saw Min Min Oo and Chit Linn Myaing Co for acting on behalf of the Karen National Army – which protects the massive scam operation – as well as She Zhijiang, the creator of the city’s Yatai New City compound. Several companies linked to them were sanctioned as well, which, under the Magnitsky Act, bars them from entry to the US and bank dealings.

In Cambodia, the department sanctioned Dong Lecheng, Xu Aimin, Chen Al Len and Su Liangsheng, along with six companies they are tied to, for their role in turning a number of hotels, office blocks and casinos into scam compounds.

Myanmar and Cambodia have become a cyberscam epicentre in recent years. Run by criminal networks that often have links to Chinese organised crime, the scam operations bilk victims across the globe out of billions of dollars annually.

The schemes, known as “pig-butchering”, involve scammers developing virtual relationships with victims before convincing them to sink money in nonexistent investments.

Many of those operating the scams are victims themselves, lured from abroad with the promise of fake jobs, and held against their will, often through extreme violence. While exact figures are hard to come by, the now-defunct US aid agency has estimated that approximately 150,000 victims are trapped in scam compounds in Cambodia, while the Thai government has estimated that 100,000 are enslaved in Myanmar.