The US and China are ramping up crackdowns on cryptocurrency-related cross-border crimes with a flurry of actions against the suspected ringleaders of scam networks operating in Southeast Asia.
In recent years, the border areas between Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have become hubs for online fraud operations, in which syndicates either trick or coerce their targeted victims to invest in bogus schemes and transfer money via bitcoin, ether or stablecoins before these are processed through complex money-laundering networks.
Those schemes reflect the major role played by cryptocurrencies in sophisticated criminal enterprises in spite of the increased integration of digital assets in mainstream finance.
After seizing US$13.4 billion worth of bitcoin from China-born Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi last month, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday said that it was launching a Scam Center Strike Force to combat crypto investment fraud that targets Americans.
The task force’s creation represented a “landmark initiative” and “the clearest statement yet” that the US intends to fight these transnational criminal networks “with the full power of the state”, blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs wrote in a report on Wednesday.
Southeast Asian scam syndicates have defrauded Americans of nearly US$10 billion per year, the DOJ said on Wednesday.
