A recent investigation has found that technology from American companies is being used to power a revolution in the scam industry, playing a key role in the industrialization and globalization of fraud. Safeer Mohammed Koorimannil, who was trafficked to a scam center in Myanmar, impersonated a 28-year-old Singaporean woman named Ella, targeting over 50,000 victims from at least 17 countries in just a month.

Scam Infrastructure

The investigation showed that American-made AI models, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, have been used to build specialized software that allows scammers to seamlessly work across dozens of languages, surveil workers, and target victims around the world. A sophisticated, global internet infrastructure supports Myanmar’s scam compound economy, which relies on services from Cogent Communications, AT&T, DigitalOcean, and Oracle, among others.

Elon Musk’s satellite internet company, Starlink, is the number one internet service provider in Myanmar, including to scam centers, despite public pressure from Congress and a widely publicized crackdown last fall. At least 25 new scam compounds have been built deep inside Myanmar since a high-profile crackdown along the Thai border last fall, with scammers from at least 13 of these outposts using Starlink IP addresses to get online.

Regulatory Response

Cybersecurity experts say internet service providers, AI companies, and Starlink could do more to prevent the abuse by scammers, but lack the legal, regulatory, and business incentives. Outside the United States, the cost of facilitating scamming is starting to rise, with the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, and Singapore introducing new regulations that require companies to do more to prevent scams or face financial penalties.

Original reporting: NBC Connecticut — read the source article.