Multiple alerts
Converging reports and actions from multiple world and US-based authorities have revealed that Southeast Asia’s cyber scam industry is flourishing.
Despite numerous high-profile rescues of hostages from scam casino and entertainment complexes in Southeast Asia earlier this year, an exclusive report by The Guardian on Monday revealed such centers along the Thailand-Myanmar border have “more than doubled” since 2021.
On Tuesday, meanwhile, the US Treasury Department announced it had hit cyber scam operators in Myanmar and Cambodia with sanctions, accusing them of stealing over $10bn from Americans.
an industry that perpetuates a vast human trafficking network
The feds listed 20 firms and individuals sanctioned for their involvement in an industry that perpetuates a vast human trafficking network. Of those targets, ten operate in Cambodia and nine in Myanmar’s Shwe Kokko village, home of the notorious KK Park.
The Guardian report cited new shared research and its own drone images and photographs, including KK Park, to back up its claim that scam centers are expanding their operations at scale.
On the rise
Drone images of KK Park, referred to as the “Garden of Hell,” and other Myanmar scam centers, including Tai Chang in August, purportedly “show new features and active building work,” including fortifications, satellite, and security networks.
Reports also state that analysis of satellite and drone imagery of the Dongmei Park scam center reveals a complex “surrounded by fencing and guarded by a checkpoint and perimeter watchtowers.”
Data from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, meanwhile, estimates that Myanmar scam centers on the Thailand border have increased from 11 to 27 in number, and have grown in size by an average of 13.5 acres per month.
Despite around 7,000 people being set free from Myanmar scam compounds in February and other reported mass escapes, the flow in human trafficking seems unabated.
Thai police have estimated around 100,000 people are being held inside such centers on the Thailand-Myanmar border alone.
US takes action
The actions of the US government on Tuesday reflect how seriously the federal government is taking the threat.
Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said the scam industry threatens Americans’ financial security and well-being, and that it also subjected “thousands of people to modern slavery.”
Reuters cited the Treasury Department statement naming Shwe Kokko operators as enticing would-be workers with fake job offers only to then imprison, mistreat, and force them “into carrying out online fraud for criminal networks.”
debt bondage, violence, and the threat of forced prostitution”
The feds added that the perpetrators often used “debt bondage, violence, and the threat of forced prostitution as part of their coercion tactics.”
