U.S. Treasury exposes reality of Southeast Asia’s scam hubs

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The United States announced sanctions on Tuesday against operators of cyber scam hubs in Myanmar and Cambodia, targeting a fast-growing fraudulent scheme that the Treasury Department says stole “tens of billions” of dollars from Americans last year. U.S. officials say crime gangs have trafficked hundreds of thousands of people into scam compounds in Southeast Asia, especially near the Thailand-Myanmar border. Lured by fake job ads, they’re trapped in debt and forced to run online scams. The people they target are pushed into bogus investments and other frauds. “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,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley. Operations involve money laundering and illegal gambling According to the Treasury, these operations do a bit of everything from laundering money and running illegal betting to coaxing people into bogus investment platforms. The workers carrying out these operations are often foreigners who have been trafficked, abused, and compelled to keep the fraud going from inside guarded sites. Among the targets are nine companies and individuals linked to Shwe Kokko, a frontier town in Karen State on Myanmar’s border with Thailand. Washington says the new measures are designed to cut off cash flows to networks that have thrived in territory controlled by militias and by the junta alike. At Shwe Kokko, recruiters lured people from many countries with fake job offers, then trapped and abused them, the Treasury said. They were forced to run online scams under debt bondage, faced violence, and were threatened with forced prostitution. U.S targeted Cambodia-based scams run by Chinese criminal networks The United States also sanctioned 10 entities in Cambodia. U.S. officials say centers run there by Chinese criminal networks have…