The FBI has launched a historic effort to eliminate global scam centers that steal Americans’ life savings and fuel some of the world’s most vicious criminal networks. These scam centers are industrial-scale compounds located in cross-border regions on the other side of the world that are run by transnational criminal syndicates that torture workers, steal and launder billions, and target Americans and our allies alike.
International Cooperation
Thanks to President Donald Trump’s decisive leadership and prioritization of the battle against scam centers, the FBI has taken the lead in the fight — treating scam centers as a top priority threat to our public and a crucial part of our no-fail mission to crush violent crime and defend the homeland. The FBI has worked with partners in India, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and more to scuttle compounds and disrupt their communications capabilities.
The FBI has also joined with private sector technology and financial industry partners to trace infrastructure, seize malicious domains, follow the money, and hunt down the funding streams for their leadership. This has led to sweeping operations like Operation Blackout to identify, locate, and annihilate the largest international scam compounds in the region.
Results
In just over a year, this effort has delivered historic results. In April, working side-by-side with Dubai Police and China’s Ministry of Public Security, the FBI led Operation Sand Dollar — the largest scam center takedown in our history. We hit nine scam centers run by Asian organized crime actors, made 311 arrests, and seized thousands of devices that had been used to target Americans in the United Arab Emirates.
Other operations have targeted the Prince Holding Group in Cambodia, a transnational criminal empire running guarded compounds that pumped out global scams, and the Tai Chang scam compound in Burma, operated by Chinese criminals. The FBI has also worked to proactively identify potential victims in real time, notifying nearly 9,000 people and preventing an estimated $562 million in losses.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
