The United States imposed sanctions on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, targeting cyber scam operators in Myanmar and Cambodia, an illicit industry that the U.S. Treasury Department says defrauded Americans of tens of billions of dollars last year.
Criminal networks have trafficked hundreds of thousands of individuals, predominantly foreigners, into scam compounds across Southeast Asia, particularly along the Thai-Myanmar border. These victims are subjected to debt bondage and coerced into perpetrating online fraud, targeting unsuspecting individuals worldwide.
“Southeast Asia’s cyber scam industry not only jeopardizes the financial security and well-being of Americans but also enslaves thousands in conditions akin to modern slavery,” said John K. Hurley, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, in a statement.
Scope of the Sanctions
The U.S. sanctions target nine entities and individuals based in Shwe Kokko, a town in Myanmar’s Karen State near the Thai border, as well as ten entities in Cambodia, where Chinese-run criminal networks focus on digital currency fraud. The Treasury Department stated that operators in Shwe Kokko lure victims globally with deceptive job offers, only to confine, mistreat, and coerce them into conducting online scams. Tactics include debt bondage, physical violence, and threats of forced prostitution.
In Cambodia, some scam compounds resemble prisons, according to Amnesty International, which has accused the Cambodian government of overlooking the industry—a claim the government denies. Neither the Myanmar junta’s spokesman nor a Cambodian government representative responded immediately to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Nature of the Scams
The sanctioned networks engage in money laundering, illegal gambling, and fraudulent investment schemes. Victims, often trafficked and held against their will, are forced to carry out these deceptive operations. Since Myanmar’s 2021 military coup, scam centers have proliferated, expanding from militia-controlled regions to areas under junta control, according to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Shwe Kokko’s Role
Shwe Kokko, established in 2017 by the Hong Kong–registered Yatai International Holdings Group in partnership with the Karen National Army (KNA), an armed group allied with Myanmar’s military, has emerged as a hub for these illicit activities. Both Yatai and the KNA are now under U.S. sanctions. The United States Institute of Peace notes that Shwe Kokko’s criminal networks have thrived in this lawless border region, exploiting lax oversight to fuel their operations.
The U.S. sanctions aim to disrupt the financial lifelines of these criminal networks, which operate in areas controlled by both militias and Myanmar’s junta, as part of a broader effort to combat transnational cybercrime and human trafficking.
