The UK and the US sanctioned a fraud network based in Southeast Asia.
On October 14, the UK and the US imposed sanctions on a multinational network based in Southeast Asia accused of operating large-scale online “scam centers” that used victims of human trafficking to perpetrate scams globally.
The British government stated that these centers, located in Cambodia, Myanmar, and other countries in the region, used deceptive job advertisements to lure workers in those countries, then threatened and tortured them to force them into online scams. One form of fraud involved luring victims into "virtual" romantic relationships and then persuading them to invest large sums of money in fake cryptocurrency platforms.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper declared: “The masterminds behind these brutal scam centers are destroying the lives of vulnerable people and using the proceeds to buy houses in London to conceal their wealth.” She said that Britain is acting in conjunction with the US to combat the growing transnational threat posed by this network and to “stop the flow of dirty money into society.”
In a separate statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “The rise in transnational fraud has cost American citizens billions of dollars, with many losing all their savings in just minutes.”
