OFAC Sanctions Networks of Scam Centers in Myanmar, Cambodia
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a network of what it said are scam centers operating across Southeast Asia, saying they steal billions of dollars from Americans using forced labor and violence. The designations target people, companies and centers operating in Shwe Kokko, Myanmar, a "notorious hub for virtual currency investment scams," as well as 10 centers and affiliated people and entities in Cambodia.
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The scam centers in Myanmar were partly created by businessman She Zhijiang and work under the "protection" of the U.S.-sanctioned Karen National Army, a militia group designated earlier this year as a transnational criminal organization, along with the group's leader, Saw Chit Thu (see 2505050008).
OFAC this week sanctioned Tin Win and Saw Min Min Oo for controlling property that hosts the scam centers, and it designated several affiliated companies, including Shwe Myint Thaung Yinn Industry & Manufacturing Co. Ltd.; Chit Linn Mying Co. Ltd.; Chit Linn Myaing Toyota Co. Ltd.; Chit Linn Myaing Mining & Industry Co. Ltd.; and Myanmar Yatai International Holding Group Co. Ltd.
It specifically said Myanmar Yatai International Holding Group Co., 70% owned by Myanmar Yatai International Holding Group, owns, operates and profits from scam activity. Those companies and others help run Yatai New City, a prominent compound of scam centers that OFAC said has been transformed into "a resort city custom built for gambling, drug trafficking, prostitution, and scams targeting people around the world, particularly Americans." The scam operators lure recruits from around the world "under false pretenses, only to detain and physically abuse them" while forcing them to work for crime groups and online scammers, OFAC said.
The agency also sanctioned several scam centers in Cambodia, including T C Capital Co. Ltd., which owns the Golden Sun Sky Casino and Hotel. OFAC said virtual currency scams and other illegal activities are carried out in the casino and hotel, sometimes by victims of human trafficking. OFAC sanctioned Dong Lecheng for founding T C Capital.
The agency also sanctioned K B Hotel Co. Ltd., co-founded by Xu Aimin, which it said also owns a complex of buildings where "enslaved workers are forced to conduct virtual currency scams." Xu also owns K B X Investment Co. Ltd.
Other Cambodian people and entities sanctioned include a member of K B Hotel’s board, Chen Al Len, who's also a director of Heng He Bavet Property Co. Ltd. Heng He Bavet is co-directed by Su Liangsheng, who also sits on the board of M D S Heng He Investment Co. Ltd., an entity being sanctioned for developing a "large virtual currency scam compound" in Pursat Province, Cambodia, OFAC said. OFAC also sanctioned HH Bank Cambodia plc, a Cambodian financial institution, for being majority owned by Chen and Su.