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The US Department of Justice said it plans to crack down on investment scams operating out of Southeast Asia and using cryptocurrencies to launder proceeds, in an effort to disrupt fraud rings that are estimated to be defrauding Americans out of nearly $10 billion (£7.6bn) annually.
Scam centres have proliferated in recent years in the border areas of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos and in Cambodia, with organised criminals operating compounds that contact victims through social media and trick or coerce them into handing over funds in the guise of investments.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a report last year that Americans lost more than $9bn to online investment fraud, while analysts TRM Labs said some $53bn in crypto-related scams and fraud has been reported globally since 2023.
Billions in losses
The US “Scam Centre Strike Force” announced by US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro is to target US-based infrastructure that facilitates the scams, including internet service provider and social media accounts used by scammers.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is to work with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division on the effort, along with the FBI and the Secret Service.
The US said it has already seized more than $400m in cryptocurrency and announced forfeiture proceedings for an additional $80m to be returned to victims.
In October, the DOJ said it had seized 127,271 Bitcoin worth $12.5bn (£9.5bn) from Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi, who was charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy for running forced-labour scam compounds across Cambodia.
Crypto seizure
The DOJ described the crypto seizure as the biggest in history.
Prince Group said last week that it “categorically rejects” the allegations.
Separately, China’s Ministry of Public Security said on 12 November that it had extradited She Zhijiang, a Chinese national accused of operating illegal online casinos, who was arrested by Thai police in 2022.
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