US ‘Strike Force’ to Combat Scam Centers in Southeast Asia

The US Justice Department announced the creation of a new “Scam Center Strike Force” to combat a surge in cryptocurrency‑investment fraud by transnational criminal organizations operating out of Southeast Asia.

The interagency task force is designed to investigate, disrupt and prosecute the most egregious schemes, estimated to be defrauding Americans of nearly $10 billion annually, it said in a statement Wednesday.

Criminal networks are running the schemes from compounds in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, where fraudulent revenue can account for nearly half of local GDP in some areas. Victims in the US are often tricked into transferring funds to fake cryptocurrency websites ...