US expands crackdown on Asian scam gangs
Washington, June 26
The Trump administration said it is stepping up efforts with Southeast Asian governments to dismantle transnational criminal networks behind online scam operations that defrauded Americans of billions of dollars last year.
Appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, Michael G. DeSombre, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the administration was pursuing a "whole of government effort" to combat criminal syndicates operating across the region.
"Together with US Interagency Partners, EAP supports US engagement to combat transnational crime across the Indo-Pacific, targeting the fentanyl supply chain, pressing China and other countries to take concrete law enforcement actions, and working to dismantle transnational criminal organizations running online scam operations that defrauded Americans of more than $12.5 billion in 2025," DeSombre said.
According to him, the Department of Justice has "restrained more than $15 billion in cryptocurrency from scam centers since October 2025" while the administration was advancing "targeted sanctions and diplomatic pressure to hold governments accountable for enforcement."
Ranking Member Ami Bera highlighted the rapid growth of scam compounds operating along the Mekong region, saying he had seen Chinese criminal organisations exploiting special economic zones in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Bera said the syndicates were also linked to drug trafficking and often forced civilians into working in online fraud operations.
Responding, DeSombre said the scale of the problem continued to grow.
"We estimate that they defrauded Americans out of $12.5 billion in 2025, which is actually a 25 per cent increase from 2024," he said.
"So the problem is not getting better. It's still getting worse."
DeSombre said the administration's priority was not simply to shut scam centres but to dismantle the criminal organisations behind them.
"The goal is to make sure we arrest the bad guys and make sure they don't ever do it again," he said.
He said Cambodia had shown signs of progress in tackling the networks.
"We are seeing, interestingly, some positive developments out of Cambodia," he said, adding that Prime Minister Hun Manet "has definitely made it a priority for his government, and we have seen positive movements in that regard."
However, DeSombre warned that enforcement action in Cambodia had pushed criminal groups into neighbouring countries.
"We now see scam centers cropping up in Malaysia, Indonesia, even in Timor-Leste and other places," he said.
While describing that development as "not good", he said it had encouraged wider regional cooperation because more governments were now experiencing the impact of organised cyber fraud.
To strengthen coordination, DeSombre said he had recently organised a contact group involving US. allies, partners and several Southeast Asian nations to improve intelligence sharing and law enforcement cooperation against the criminal syndicates.
Online investment fraud, cryptocurrency scams and romance scams have become one of the fastest-growing forms of transnational organised crime in Southeast Asia. Criminal networks have established large compounds in several countries, often using trafficked workers to target victims around the world through sophisticated digital fraud schemes.
— IANS
Reader Comments
The $12.5 billion figure is staggering! But I notice the US is pointing fingers at China repeatedly. Why no mention of the Indian victims too? My parents in Chennai get scam calls almost weekly pretending to be from "Amazon Help Desk." This is a global issue, not just American problem. Need more India-specific action too!
Interesting that Cambodia is actually showing progress. But the ball keeps getting passed to other countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Classic whack-a-mole problem. The real solution is shutting down the Chinese syndicates funding these operations. Without addressing the root cause, these scams will keep popping up everywhere.
As someone who works in cybersecurity in Mumbai, I can tell you these operations are incredibly sophisticated. They use AI voice cloning, deepfakes, and even target specific demographics with tailored scripts. The $15 billion in crypto seizures is impressive, but it's just a drop in the ocean. We need better digital literacy programs in India too.
Respect to the US for actually doing something about this, but let's be honest: this is America First policy in action. They're acting because their citizens lost money. What about the thousands of trafficked workers from India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh forced to work in these scam compounds? That's the human tragedy behind the numbers. 💔
Good to see international cooperation. My firm in Delhi does fraud analytics, and these syndicates are getting smarter every day. The 25% increase proves that traditional policing methods aren't working. We need AI-based threat detection systems shared between countries. But will China cooperate? That's the million-dollar question.