SOUTHEAST Asian scammers have been on Washington’s radar for sometime now. But it is saying enough is enough, with Americans losing US$10 billion annually to criminal networks run by Chinese gangsters in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
The criminal gangs have been in the three countries for so long that media reports are labelling them as “scam” states, a label they vehemently oppose. But to the media a mere denial doesn’t mean the criminal gangs have no access to governments there.
A Dec 2 headline in The Guardian told it all: “Age of the ‘scam state’: how a multi-billion dollar industry has taken root in Southeast Asia”.
The English newspaper’s article compels us to reach only one conclusion: an illicit industry with its tentacles dug so deep into institutions and the economy that wouldn’t be possible without collusion by officials.
As if coups and conflicts were not enough, our region is adding an unwanted badge to its collection.
The US Justice Department, together with other enforcement agencies in the country, is now ready with “Scam Centre Strike Force” to combat a surge in such transnational criminal organisations.
Analysts are calling this move by Washington a game changer. It may just be. An early proof of this is: just after the strike force’s launch on Nov 12, it had recovered US$400 million from the fraudsters.
The strike force has also seized the domain of the notorious Tai Chang scam compound, aka Casino Kosai, located in the village of Kyaukhat in Myanmar — all within three weeks of the launch.
According to a press statement issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation San Diego, Tai Chang is affiliated with Myanmar armed group the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and Trans Asia International Holding Group (Thailand) Company Limited, known to be developers and operators of the scam compounds.
Washington isn’t just striking from a distance. The Scam Strike Force is working with Southeast Asian government agencies to take the fight to the compound.
FBI agents are also on the ground in Bangkok alongside Thai police in what the US agency calls “their War Room Task Force, to investigate and combat scam compounds”.
It is targeting key leaders — including Chinese organised crime affiliates in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — to bring them to justice. And it is not just a US law enforcement agencies’ war against the scammers.
The strike force has also roped in US social media companies like Meta, Apple and Google to help wage the war.
This is the most serious attempt by any country inside or outside the region in putting an end to the scam empire.
Southeast Asian governments would do well to help wage the war against scammers because it is not just the Americans who are losing billions but also people in the region.
Here is another dark fact: the compounds are said to hold more than 100,000 people from about 70 countries forced to be “scammers”. More than enough reasons for a joint war.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
