ISTANBUL, Sept 9 — The United States (US) imposed sanctions on online scam operations in Southeast Asia that caused Americans to lose at least US$10 billion (RM42.10 billion) in 2024, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on nine targets involved in operations at the Shwe Kokko fraud centre in Myanmar, which it claims operates under the protection of the Karen National Army (KNA), an ethnic militia in southeastern Myanmar.
Additionally, the OFAC imposed sanctions on four individuals and six entities operating forced labour camps in Cambodia. The US alleged that workers in these camps are forced to commit cryptocurrency investment fraud targeting victims in the US, Europe, China, and other countries.
"Criminal actors across Southeast Asia have increasingly exploited the vulnerabilities of Americans online," Rubio said, noting the sanctions protect Americans from "industrial-scale fraud, forced labour, physical".
All property and interests of sanctioned individuals in the US or controlled by US persons are now blocked. Entities owned 50 per cent or more by blocked persons are also sanctioned.
Americans lost at least US$10 billion in 2024 to Southeast Asia-based fraud operations, according to US estimates, a figure that represents a 66 per cent increase over the previous year.
