‘In 2024, Americans lost at least $10 billion to scam operations in Southeast Asia,’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio says.
The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on 19 individuals and entities for their alleged roles in an extensive network of scam centers in Burma (Myanmar) and Cambodia.
“Criminal actors across Southeast Asia have increasingly exploited the vulnerabilities of Americans online. In 2024, Americans lost at least $10 billion to scam operations in Southeast Asia, according to a U.S. government estimate,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Sept. 8 statement.
That figure marked a 66 percent increase from 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement announcing details of the sanctions.
“These sanctions protect Americans from the pervasive threat of online scam operations by disrupting the ability of criminal networks to perpetuate industrial-scale fraud, forced labor, physical and sexual abuse, and theft of Americans’ hard-earned savings,” Rubio added.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions against nine targets operating in Burma’s Shwe Kokko, a place it described as a “notorious hub for virtual currency investment scams under the protection of the OFAC-designated Karen National Army (KNA).”
In May, the OFAC designated the Burmese militia group KNA as a “transnational criminal organization.” It sanctioned the group—along with its leader, Saw Chit Thu, and his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit—for their involvement in “facilitating cyber scams that harm U.S. citizens, human trafficking, and cross-border smuggling.”
The nine targets were Tin Win, Saw Min Min Oo, Chit Linn Myaing Co., Chit Linn Myaing Toyota Company Limited, Chit Linn Myaing Mining & Industry Company Limited, Shwe Myint Thaung Yinn Industry & Manufacturing Company Limited, She Zhijiang, Yatai International Holdings Group Limited, and Myanmar Yatai International Holding Group Co., according to the Treasury.
She Zhijiang and Saw Chit Thu transformed a small village in Shwe Kokko into a “prominent compound of scam centers” called Yatai New City, which became notorious for “gambling, drug trafficking, prostitution, and scams targeting people around the world, particularly Americans,” according to the Treasury.
By Frank Fang
