According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) annual report, the most costly consumer scams in America are cryptocurrency investment frauds, with almost $4 billion per year in reported losses. Given that most experts estimate 70%-90% of fraud goes unreported, actual loss could be as high as $40 billion per year. This loss mostly involves so-called “pig butchering” call centers in Myanmar, Cambodia, and other countries. Due to the labor intensive nature of these scams, criminal groups in southeast Asian lure workers from other countries with offers of legitimate appearing call center work. These workers are then held against their will and forced to commit fraud.
Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the U.S. State Department grades each country on their efforts to combat human trafficking. Countries that do not make efforts to combat human trafficking are subject to sanctions. The State Department had determined Cambodia has failed to comply with TVPA for the last three years, finding that:
The Government of Cambodia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so…corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes, including by high-level senior officials, remained widespread and endemic…corruption and official complicity – including by high-level senior government officials – in trafficking crimes remained widespread and endemic during the reporting period; this included the exploitation of tens of thousands of victims in forced criminality in online scam operations in Cambodia. Officials actively impeded countervailing efforts, including reportedly undermining anti-trafficking law enforcement and victim protection efforts and dispelling reported accusations through minimization and denial in public messaging of the prevalence and severity of online scam operations, including reports of government complicity…
On March 26, FVRO joined with the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO), the Public International Cybercrime Disruption Organization (PICDO), The Eyewitness Project, and Advocating Against Romance Scammers (AARS) to urge the Trump Administration to take decisive action to convince the Government of Cambodia that normalization of political and economic relations with the U.S. are contingent on closing scam call centers that defraud Americans.
Americans who wish for their voices to be heard on this issue should call the U.S. State Department public comment line at 202-647-6575 (option 8), the White House (202-456-1111), or their Members of Congress (the Congressional Directory can be found HERE). The U.S. State Department public comment web form can be found HERE. The White House public comment web form can be found HERE.
The joint letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio can be viewed HERE.
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