Federal authorities on Monday imposed sanctions on 19 people and organizations allegedly involved in major cyberscam hubs in Burma and Cambodia.

“Criminal actors across Southeast Asia have increasingly exploited the vulnerabilities of Americans online,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “In 2024, Americans lost at least $10 billion to scam operations in Southeast Asia, according to a U.S. government estimate.” That’s a 66% increase from the prior year, officials said. 

People who staff these scam centers are often victimized as well. Criminal organizations in Southeast Asia recruit workers under false pretenses and use debt bondage, violence, and threats of forced prostitution to coerce them to scam strangers online via messaging apps or text messages, authorities said.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control levied sanctions against nine targets operating in Shwe Kokko, Burma, which it described as a “notorious hub for virtual currency investment scams under the protection of the OFAC-designated Karen National Army.” KNA was sanctioned as a transnational criminal organization in May. 

Tin Win, Saw Min Min Oo, Chit Linn Myaing Co., Chit Linn Myaing Toyota Co., Chit Linn Myaing Mining & Industry Co., Shwe Myint Thaung Yinn Industry and Manufacturing Co., She Zhijang, Yatai International Holdings Group and Myanmar Yatai International Holding Group Co. were all sanctioned for their alleged involvement in these scam centers near Burma’s border with Thailand.

She Shijiang and Saw Chit Thu, the leader of the KNA who was previously sanctioned in May, are accused of transforming a small village in Shwe Kokko into a city built for gambling, drug trafficking, prostitution and a compound of scam centers. Tin Win and Saw Min Min Oo allegedly control property that hosts the scam centers and personally run organizations that support the operations.

“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,” John K. Hurley, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned four people and six organizations for their alleged involvement in forced labor compounds in Cambodia that operate virtual currency investment scams targeting victims in the United States, Europe, China and elsewhere. 

T C Capital Co., K B Hotel Co., K B X Investment Co., M D S Heng He Investment Co., Heng He Bavet Property Co., HH Bank Cambodia, Dong Lecheng, Xu Aimin, Chen Al Len and Su Liangsheng were all sanctioned for their alleged involvement in scam centers in Cambodia. 

“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 said.

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It’s time for SpaceX to take strong action against scammers abusing the company’s Starlink internet service, Sen. Maggie Hassan said in a letter to CEO Elon Musk on Monday.

The New Hampshire Democrat cited evidence accumulating over the past two years that some Southeast Asian fraudsters scamming billions of dollars from U.S. citizens have leaned on Starlink due to its independence from national telecommunications networks, decentralized structure and the ability to use it on the go.

Media outlets and government officials have turned up Starlink equipment at scam compounds that are largely centered in Southeast Asia, and a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report last fall highlighted the trend. 

“While SpaceX has stated that it investigates and deactivates Starlink devices in various contexts, it seemingly has not publicly acknowledged the use of Starlink for scams originating in Southeast Asia — or publicly discussed actions the company has taken in response,” Hassan wrote. “Scam networks in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, however, have apparently continued to use Starlink despite service rules permitting SpaceX to terminate access for fraudulent activity.”

Scam compounds have been getting increased attention from Southeast Asian governments and nonprofit organizations in recent months, but there are also signs that the crackdowns aren’t keeping up with the industry’s evolution.

A human rights group last week reported data showing that the scammers’ use of Starlink has more than doubled since Thailand began cutting internet cables to cripple their operations.

SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, and has not responded to past media questions about Southeast Asian scammers using Starlink.

Hassan wants to know whether SpaceX was aware of the scammers using Starlink and if so, when it first knew it, its policies for investigating and restricting the use of Starlink devices, what it’s done to work with law enforcement agencies on the problem and more. She sits on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Much of the cybersecurity-related attention SpaceX has received this year is as a potential target of cyberattacks, particularly after White House security experts warned of the security risks of installing Starlink there and President Donald Trump said he would continue using the service. 

SpaceX has a web page dedicated to Starlink-related scams of another sort.

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