US strikes again
Just one month after Myanmar’s Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min questioned the legitimacy of strikes by a special US task unit against scam centers in the Southeast Asian country, the Department of Justice has responded with a show of force.
The DOJ last week revealed it had seized a cryptocurrency investment platform (PIF) used through Casino Kosai on the Myanmar-Thai border, an establishment that is part of the notorious Tai Chang scam center based in the area.
US’s first “District-level CIF strike force.”
The Justice Department also claimed the bust as a scalp for the US’s first “District-level CIF strike force.”
The DOJ said the Casino Kosai strike was the result of the launch of the District of Columbia US Attorney’s Office’s “Scam Center Strike Force” three weeks ago. It also included the seizure of two additional CIF-tied websites also used by the Tai Chang network
Gloves are off
Now that the DOJ has confirmed an active strike force in Myanmar, it provides a no-nonsense response to Minister Zaw Min’s refuting of previous US strikes on November 19, stating there was “no evidence of such operations on the ground.”
He made the comments after the country’s State Administration Council (SAC)-controlled governing military junta arrested 356 people during a raid on the infamous KK Park.
The domain taken out by the strike force last week, tickmilleas.com, was used by bad actors at the Tai Chang scam compound. The compound and its casino are, according to the DOJ, affiliated with the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and the Trans Asia International Holding Group Thailand Company Limited (Trans Asia).
146 people and organizations sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in November
Both the DKBA and Trans Asia were among 146 people and organizations sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in November for links to Chinese organized crime and human trafficking.
Tech giants cooperate
Investors using tickmilleas.com were, according to federal prosecutors, promised big returns, and shown fake balances “after scammers walked the victims through falsified trades.”
The FBI has ordered Google Play and the Apple App Store to remove apps connected to the scam domain, while the DOJ stated Meta had “identified and voluntarily removed more than 2,000 accounts from their network of social media platforms.”
The Justice Department’s press release stated that in 2024 alone, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center fielded over 41,000 complaints “reporting roughly $5.8bn in losses from CIF scams.”
