Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Jun 26: The Trump administration has announced an expanded campaign with Southeast Asian governments to dismantle transnational criminal syndicates behind online scam operations that allegedly defrauded Americans of more than $12.5 billion in 2025.
Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Michael G. DeSombre said the United States was pursuing a “whole-of-government effort” to combat organised cybercrime across the Indo-Pacific region.
DeSombre said the initiative involves coordination with multiple US agencies to target online scam networks, disrupt illicit financial flows, and pressure regional governments to take stronger law-enforcement action.
“Together with US interagency partners, we are working to dismantle transnational criminal organisations running online scam operations that defrauded Americans of more than $12.5 billion in 2025,”
he told lawmakers.
He added that the US Department of Justice has restrained more than $15 billion in cryptocurrency linked to scam centres since October 2025, while Washington is also pursuing targeted sanctions and diplomatic measures against jurisdictions that fail to act.
Mekong Scam Compounds Under Scrutiny
During the hearing, Congressman Ami Bera, the ranking member of the subcommittee, highlighted the rapid expansion of scam compounds across the Mekong region. He said Chinese criminal groups had exploited special economic zones in countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos to run large-scale fraud operations.
Bera also noted that many of these networks are linked to drug trafficking and frequently force trafficked individuals to work in online scam centres.
Responding to the concerns, DeSombre acknowledged that the situation continues to worsen.
“We estimate that they defrauded Americans out of $12.5 billion in 2025, which is a 25 per cent increase from 2024. So the problem is not getting better. It's still getting worse,”
he said.
Focus on Arresting Organised Crime Leaders
DeSombre said the administration's objective goes beyond shutting down individual scam compounds.
“The goal is to make sure we arrest the bad guys and make sure they don't ever do it again,” he said.
He pointed to Cambodia as a country where authorities have recently shown greater willingness to act.
“Prime Minister Hun Manet has definitely made it a priority for his government, and we have seen positive movements in that regard,” DeSombre said.
Criminal Networks Shifting Across Borders
Despite some progress, DeSombre warned that crackdowns in one country often push criminal groups into neighbouring states.
“We now see scam centers cropping up in Malaysia, Indonesia, even in Timor-Leste and other places,”
he said.
He described the trend as troubling but noted that it has encouraged broader regional cooperation, as more governments are now experiencing the direct impact of organised cyber fraud.
Regional Cooperation Expands
To improve coordination, DeSombre said he recently convened a contact group involving US allies, partners, and several Southeast Asian governments to strengthen intelligence sharing and law-enforcement cooperation against the syndicates.
Online investment fraud, cryptocurrency scams, and romance scams have become some of the fastest-growing forms of transnational organised crime in Southeast Asia. Investigators say many criminal networks operate from large compounds that rely on trafficked workers and sophisticated digital deception techniques to target victims around the world.