It seems that cybercrime is becoming a lucrative side gig not only for dictatorships, such as North Korea, but for at least one militia group as well.
While the Western tech and cryptoassets world are fighting against North Korean "IT worker" scams, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Karen National Army (KNA), a militia group in Myanmar, and its leader Saw Chit Thu, along with his two sons Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit.
The gang is accused of facilitating cyber scams that harm US citizens, human trafficking, and cross-border smuggling. Saw Chit Thu was also sanctioned by the UK in 2023 and the EU in 2024.
According to OFAC, the KNA has also benefited from its connection to Myanmar’s military in its criminal operations.
Headquartered in Shwe Kokko, Myawaddy Township in Burma’s southeast Karen State along the border with Thailand, the KNA is said to be profiting from cyber scam schemes on an industrial scale by leasing land it controls to other organized crime groups. Moreover, per OFAC, it also provides support for human trafficking, smuggling, and the sale of utilities used to provide energy to scam operations.
"A significant portion of cyber scam operations targeting Americans and others around the globe emanate from Southeast Asia," OFAC said, also reminding of the Cambodian Huione Group, accused of helping launder money from cybercrime.
According to the department, the actual people who are scamming strangers online are often forced to do so with threats of physical violence and humiliation after being lured or trafficked into prison-like call centers or retrofitted hotels and casinos.
In either case, they're using already well-known schemes that may last for months and often leave their victims without even their life savings.
"Initially, scammers exploit victims’ vulnerabilities like recent breakups, bereavement, or financial hardship and, in some cases, employ attractive models to assuage victims’ apprehension with the occasional video chat," OFAC said, adding that the victims are soon tricked into "investing" in bogus cryptocurrency and trading platforms controlled by the scammers themselves.
The next step is to show victims their fake investment "results," tricking them into spending even more before the criminals steal everything they can.
OFAC estimates that Americans lost over $2 billion in 2022 and $3.5 billion in 2023 due to scams emanating from Asian countries.
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