US Department of Justice takes action against scam centers in Southeast Asia

The United States has filed criminal charges against two Chinese nationals accused of running a scam compound in Myanmar where trafficked workers were allegedly forced to carry out cryptocurrency investment fraud targeting Americans, the US Justice Department said on Friday.

The Justice Department identified the suspects as Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wen Jie, and said both were charged with wire fraud conspiracy in connection with operations at the Shunda compound in Min Let Pan, Myanmar, and an attempted expansion into Cambodia.

In a virtual news briefing, Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, said the men are being held in Thailand on immigration charges after Thai authorities arrested them earlier this year. US prosecutors are seeking their extradition to Washington for trial under a treaty between the two countries.

“Cyber-enabled and cryptocurrency investment fraud, known by the scammers as pig butchering, is among the fastest-growing and most financially devastating forms of cybercrime, targeting not just Americans, but people all over the world,” Ms. Pirro told journalists.

“The Scam Center Strike Force has seen all different iterations of scams targeting Americans to include romance scams, law enforcement scams, and law enforcement impersonation, investment advice scams, as well as lifestyle influencer scams. There has been an uptick in impersonation scams more recently,” she said.

Investigators reviewed more than 8,000 phones and 1,500 computers recovered after the Shunda compound was seized in November 2025, Ms. Pirro said.

Evidence allegedly showed a Chinese-run, hierarchical operation in which trafficked workers were held against their will and threatened with violence if they failed to meet fraud targets.

Ms. Pirro said the milestone is part of a broader crackdown on Southeast Asian scam centers that has led to the seizure of 503 fake investment websites and a Telegram channel with more than 6,000 followers used to recruit forced labor in Cambodia. Authorities have also restrained more than $701.96 million in cryptocurrency linked to money laundering from the schemes.

“We have taken down more than 500 websites used to steal people’s savings,” Ms. Pirro said, adding that her office would continue tracing stolen funds with the aim of returning money to victims where possible.

The case is the latest move by the Scam Center Strike Force, a Justice Department-led initiative launched in November 2025 to combat cyber-enabled financial crime, human trafficking and money laundering linked to compounds concentrated in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

Ms. Pirro said the task force was also working with regional governments, including the Philippines, where US law enforcement is coordinating with local officials, though she did not cite specific large-scale compounds currently operating there.

“We are mainly focused on Cambodia, Burma, and Laos, as I’ve indicated, which are the three hot spots according to most public reporting, as well as the records of social media providers,” she said.

“As it relates to the Philippines, we have our FBI legal and DOJ attache in the Philippines, and we are presently working with their government, I’m pleased to say,” she said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center has received reports of roughly $5.8 billion in losses from cryptocurrency investment fraud in 2024, and the Justice Department said losses rose another 24% in 2025 to more than $7.2 billion.

In parallel actions announced on Friday, Ms. Pirro said the State Department is currently offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to financial seizures related to the Tai Chang scam compound in Burma. She said private-sector firms including JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, and Meta are assisting efforts to disrupt the networks behind the scams.

Ms. Pirro added that the campaign aims both to protect victims and to dismantle networks involved in coercion, abuse, and human trafficking across the region. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking