In April, the DoJ and OFAC shared several wins against SEA scam operations, including 276 arrests, 503 web domain seizures, new sanctions, and new charges.
On April 23rd, 2026, the Department of Justice announced several impressive wins in the fight against cybercrime, specifically from foreign scam centers. The operation was carried out by the Scam Center Strike Force (SCSF), a group specifically created in 2025 with help from the DoJ, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and the United States Secret Service “to secure America against Southeast Asian cryptocurrency-related fraud and scams.”
Cyber scam networks in Southeast Asia (SEA) have become a global concern, with criminals running international syndicates to find victims to scam and people to carry out the schemes, willingly or unwillingly. One estimate from the U.S. government puts the minimum losses Americans suffered from SEA-based cyber scams in 2024 at $10 billion USD, “a 66 percent increase over the prior year”, suggesting the problem is only on the rise. Scammers often use a “pig-butchering” method to fleece as much money as possible from victims. Taking advantage of the fast-growing cryptocurrency industry, scammers develop a close relationship with their targets before convincing them to invest in a phony cryptocurrency platform that seems to offer significant returns on their investment. Scammers may even frame the platform as how they gained their own wealth, exploiting their victims’ trust. The platform directs all the money to the scammers, who will only stop contacting the victim when they run out of money (and are “butchered”, so to speak) or when the victim realizes they have been scammed.
The SCSF was able to charge two Chinese nationals, Huang Xingshan, known as “Ah Zhe”, or “Huang Xing Saan”, along with Jian Wen Jie, known as “Jiang Nan”, for their work managing the cryptocurrency investment fraud operations at the Burma-based Shunda compound. Jiang led the team targeting Americans, with one of Jiang’s underlings defrauding one American of more than $3 million. Huang “personally participated in the physical punishment of trafficked compound workers”, a position that is not an uncommon part of these schemes. Workers for these operations are often deceived into joining, promised a well-paying job in Cambodia or elsewhere in Southeast Asia. When they arrive, their documents may be confiscated, and they are forced to work against their will (under threat of physical violence) to scam their manager’s targets.
Under the direction of Huang and Jiang, the workers also posed as US bank representatives, warning victims that their accounts were linked to gun purchases, and then directed the victims to other workers claiming to be NYPD detectives or law enforcement, before being transferred to the New York Supreme Court or other prosecutorial officials. Victims of the scam shared their bank account information and lost their savings to the scammers who organized the charade.
Thanks to the work of the SCSF, the FBI, Thai law enforcement, including the Anti-Cyber Scam Center task force of the Royal Thai Police, Huang and Jiang have been charged with wire fraud conspiracy. The Scam Center Strike Force also took down the 6,000-follower-strong Telegram channel recruiting workers for false jobs, alongside 503 web domains that were used for cryptocurrency investment fraud. The SCSF also restrained some cryptocurrency related to the scams, bringing the total of the funds restrained by the organization to over $700 million. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also sanctioned Kok An, a Cambodian Senator, and Rithy Raksmei, a Cambodian businessman, along with their associates for other scam center networks.
Kok An, who is also a businessman, owns several buildings (casinos, resorts, etc.) through his company Crown Resorts. These buildings are rented out to cybercriminals who need places to host their operations and trafficked workers to run the scams. Rithy Raksmei, similarly, owns several casinos that accommodate cybercriminal schemes run by trafficked individuals. These plots included romance scams, Ponzi schemes, and cryptocurrency theft. The workers for both Kok An and Rithy have been known to suffer beatings and even prostitution if they do not meet the quotas for defrauding individuals. Businesses owned by the two, alongside the Brillinicany Sihanoukville Investment and Development Co Ltd (also known as Bolai), owned by Luo Hong, have also been sanctioned, with the latter being punished for pushing their (also trafficked) workers to target Americans with scams, and offering money laundering services for criminals.
Almost a week after this cyber scam bust, the FBI worked with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, Thailand’s law enforcement, and the Dubai Police Department to dismantle nine more scam centers linked with cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes. The crackdown, led by Dubai’s Police force, resulted in the arrest of 276 individuals. Six of these arrests led to charges of federal fraud and money laundering being unsealed on Thet Miny Nyi (27, a Burmese national), Wiliang Awang (23, an Indonesian national), Andreas Chandra (29, an Indonesian national), Lisa Mariam (29, an Indonesian national), and two fugitive co-conspirators. These individuals were charged in San Diego for their involvement in pig-butchering cryptocurrency fraud schemes on American targets.
The Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Division, Heith Janke, commented on the cooperation needed to achieve the crackdown in the press release: “This operation demonstrates the FBI’s steadfast commitment to preventing scammers from further defrauding the American people. We can’t do this work alone, and we are proud to coordinate and collaborate with our partners to hold accountable those who work to enable and facilitate these scams.” Janke’s statement is emphasized by the coordinated efforts required to take down previous cyber scam networks.
This particular takedown is also commendable for the “unprecedented cooperation” between the US, the United Arab Emirates, and China. The US and Dubai do not have a history of cybercrime collaboration. Additionally, relations between the US and China have been tense for a while, with the 2026 Office of the Director of National Intelligence Annual Threat Assessment naming the country “the most active and persistent cyber threat to U.S. Government, private-sector, and critical infrastructure networks” for the fourth year in a row. In late March 2026, Reva Price, the commissioner with the U.S.-China Economic Committee, accused China of discreetly supporting cyber scam syndicates, saying “...Beijing is willing to tolerate Chinese criminal groups that use the profits from scam centers to help support its agenda.” She also explained that in 2024, while China saw a 30% decline in losses from online scams, America saw a 40% increase, suggesting criminal organizations “have been incentivized to shift targeting Americans”. While these allegations are concerning, China’s help in the most recent scam bust may be a sign that they do have an interest in addressing cybercrime, even if it also affects Americans. Having more help in the international fight against cyber scams may go a long way, for all countries involved.