U.S. officials on Wednesday struck at Southeast Asian scam compounds defrauding Americans and a global fentanyl supply chain, announcing criminal charges, sanctions, and the seizure of hundreds of fraudulent websites in a pair of coordinated actions.

The Department of Justice charged two Chinese nationals, Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wen Jie, with wire fraud conspiracy for managing a cryptocurrency investment fraud compound in Myanmar, where trafficked workers were held against their will and forced to defraud victims under threat of violence and torture. Under Jiang’s supervision, one worker successfully defrauded a single American victim of over $3 million. Both men were arrested in Thailand in early 2026 after relocating to Cambodia following the Myanmar compound’s seizure.

In a coordinated action, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted Kok An, a Cambodian senator whose properties house scam centers, along with 28 individuals and entities in his network. Kok An’s flagship hospitality company, Crown Resorts, owns casinos, resorts, and other buildings in Poipet, Sihanoukville, Bavet, and other Cambodian cities that have been converted into compounds from which criminal organizations conduct digital asset investment fraud and other scams, Treasury said. 

Also designated was Cambodian businessman Rithy Raksmei, head of casino operator K99 Culture and Media Co Ltd, whose facilities the Treasury Department said have similarly been used to conduct romance scams and digital asset fraud targeting Americans.

Using the lure of friendship or romantic relationships, fraudsters coax vulnerable Americans into transferring their savings in digital assets by promising investment opportunities and high returns, only to steal the funds outright, Treasury said. 

The Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force also announced a first-of-its-kind seizure of a Telegram channel with more than 6,000 followers used to recruit workers to a Cambodia compound, where they were forced to impersonate U.S. bank representatives and law enforcement to steal victims’ savings, and the seizure of more than 503 web domains disguised as legitimate investment platforms. 

Collectively, the Strike Force has restrained more than $700 million in cryptocurrency alleged to be tied to money laundering from scams. 

Reported losses from cryptocurrency investment scams reached over $7.2 billion in 2025, up 24 percent from the prior year, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Treasury officials estimate total American losses to Southeast Asia-based operations were at least $10 billion in 2024 alone.

In a separate action Thursday, OFAC sanctioned 23 individuals and entities accused of being part of a synthetic opioid procurement network with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. 

Among those designated were two India-based pharmaceutical chemicals suppliers, which Treasury said mislabeled and shipped fentanyl precursors to Mexico and Guatemala. Also designated were brokers in Guatemala and Mexico, two Sinaloa Cartel-linked individuals arrested in Mexico in March 2026, and a chemist who operated clandestine fentanyl labs in Guadalajara and was arrested in Madrid in November 2025.