Overview
- U.S. officials announced the Scam Center Strike Force led by the U.S. Attorney for D.C. with the DOJ, FBI and Secret Service, coordinating with Treasury and State.
- OFAC designated Myanmar’s Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, four senior leaders, Trans Asia, Troth Star and Thai national Chamu Sawang for supporting scam centers.
- Authorities said they have seized more than $400 million in stolen cryptocurrency and are pursuing forfeiture of an additional $80 million for victim restitution.
- The effort targets large-scale scam compounds in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos that rely on coerced labor and long-con crypto investment ruses targeting Americans.
- Officials said the campaign builds on October’s Prince Group action involving about 127,000 bitcoin and will leverage cooperation with companies such as Meta, Microsoft and AARP alongside blockchain analytics.