US government agencies are ramping up the response to overseas scams seeking to trick people into sending crypto, and the Treasury Department announced a Scam Center Strike Force on Wednesday, even as it marked its latest effort to target a Burmese operation that targeted Americans with fake investment schemes.
US authorities, including the Justice Department, are standing up to the strike force for going after so-called “pig slaughter”, often coordinated by massive organized crime operations in places like Burma, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines. The most recent case involved Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioning armed groups, companies and individuals in Burma linked to the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and fraud centers said to be supported by Chinese criminal organizations.
The task force, led by the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, aims to dismantle the transnational criminal enterprises in Southeast Asia that have stolen tens of billions from Americans — much of it going unreported. The practice sees teams of operators – often forced into it via human trafficking – working on a factory scale to trick people into making fraudulent investments or sending money to fake romantic partners.
“The administration will continue to use every tool we have to go after these cybercriminals — wherever they operate — and to protect American families from their exploitation,” Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley said in a statement.
The strike force envisions tapping various parts of the federal government with oversight duties related to this area, including the DOJ, the Treasury Department, the State Department, and national law enforcement agencies.
“The scale is staggering,” Ari Redbord, global head of policy and government affairs for TRM Laboratories, said of the global criminal enterprises involved in pig slaughter. “DoJ’s Scam Center Strike Force reflects a hard truth: no single agency can tackle this alone.”
Similarly, the DOJ has previously established a health care strike force and a trade fraud task force.
Last month, US authorities went after the Prince Group, which allegedly ran an operation in Cambodia, where the DOJ made what it said was its largest ever seizure of 127,271 bitcoins. . The action was coordinated between the DOJ and the Treasury Department.
In Burma, the development of the fraud centers was linked by the US authorities to others among the sanctioned entities, including Trans Asia International Holding Group Thailand Company Ltd. (Trans Asia), Troth Star Co. Ltd. (Troth Star) and Thai national Chamu Sawang. The sanctions accused them of being linked to Chinese organized crime, and authorities said the proceeds go to finance Burma’s civil war.
