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U.S. sanctions cyber scammers who stole billions from Americans. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned several large networks of cyber scam operations in Southeast Asia, which stole over $10 billion from Americans last year. These operations, mainly those in Burma and Cambodia, are notorious for using forced labor, human trafficking, and physical violence, essentially operating as modern slavery farms that conduct online fraud. The scams vary from “romance baiting” to fake cryptocurrency investing opportunities. The announcement highlights that the financial damage impact of these South Asian scam centers on Americans in 2024 recorded a 66% increase compared to the previous year. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned the following nine targets, linked to the Karen National Army (KNA) in Bruma, and 10 targets linked to various organized crime networks in Cambodia: The imposed sanctions were based on violations relating to Executive Orders 13851 on transnational crime, 13694 on cyber-enabled threats,  13818 on human rights abuses, and 14014 on destabilizing actors in Burma. In practice, the sanctioned entities are blocked from the U.S. financial system and are banned from doing business or having any financial transactions with Americans. Also, any property they hold in the U.S. is frozen, and their access to international banks, partners, and platforms is severely limited. Although no arrests have been made, that would have a direct impact on the fraudulent operations, the sanctions still bring notable legal exposure and financial isolation to these threat actors. Picus Blue Report 2025 is Here: 2X increase in password cracking 46% of environments had passwords cracked, nearly doubling from 25% last year. Get the Picus Blue Report 2025 now for a comprehensive look at more findings on prevention, detection, and data exfiltration trends.