WASHINGTON – The US has imposed sanctions on a network of cyberscam centres operating in South-east Asia in a bid to heighten pressure on operations allegedly using forced labour to bilk billions from Americans annually.
The Treasury Department’s action, announced on Sept 8, targets nine entities in Myanmar that it says operate under the protection of the already-sanctioned Karen National Army, as well as 10 in Cambodia where the US says workers are forced to carry out virtual currency investment scams.
“South-east Asia’s cyberscam industry not only threatens the well-being and financial security of Americans, but also subjects thousands of people to modern slavery,” Mr John Hurley, the undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a news release.
“Treasury will deploy the full weight of its tools to combat organised financial crime and protect Americans from the extensive damage these scams can cause.”
The Treasury Department says Americans lost more than US$10 billion (S$13 billion) because of South-east Asia-based scams in 2024.
The move is the latest in a series of actions by US President Donald Trump’s administration to target what it calls a rise in large-scale cyber fraud that is proliferated in South-east Asia.
Job seekers are often lured to the labour camps under false pretences and then forced under threat of violence to conduct online fraud campaigns, according to the US Treasury Department.
“Using debt bondage, violence and the threat of forced prostitution, the scam operators coerce individuals to scam strangers online using messaging apps or by sending text messages directly to a potential victim’s phone,” the Treasury said.
The operations, which grew amid the Covid-19 pandemic, have drawn increasing attention in recent months following a series of crackdowns in the region, with thousands detained.
But human rights advocates fault the Cambodian government for not doing more, with Amnesty International in June accusing the authorities in Phnom Penh of “deliberately ignoring” human rights abuses tied to the scamming centres.
While the individual scams vary, they have a common purpose, aiming to swindle victims out of financial savings.
Initial approaches can be made through text or direct messages – and even calls to a supposed wrong number – but can quickly escalate with targets encouraged to share remote access to their electronic devices and install software.
In one practice colourfully known as “pig butchering”, the perpetrators seek to persuade targets to invest in virtual currency or other fraudulent investments, thereby fattening the potential haul – and harm. BLOOMBERG
