{"id":591303,"date":"2026-04-24T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=591303"},"modified":"2026-04-24T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T23:00:00","slug":"us-sanctions-cambodian-senator-linked-to-crypto-romance-scam-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=591303","title":{"rendered":"US Sanctions Cambodian Senator Linked To Crypto Romance Scam Centers"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Sanctions Cambodian Senator Linked To Crypto Romance Scam Centers<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Chris Summers via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

The United States on April 23 imposed sanctions on a wealthy Cambodian senator, Kok An, who allegedly ran crypto-romance scam centers that stole millions of dollars from U.S. citizens.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Thai soldiers stand outside an abandoned scam center in O’Smach town on the border between Thailand and Cambodia on March 12, 2026. Lillian Suwanrumpha\/AFP via Getty Images<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Kok, 71, is a political ally of Hun Sen, who served as Cambodian prime minister for 25 years before stepping down in 2023 and handing power to his son, Hun Manet. The 73-year-old is now president of the Cambodian Senate.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also sanctioned 28 individuals and entities linked to the suspected scam centers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEliminating fraud is a top priority for the Trump administration,\u201d U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. \u201cTreasury will continue to target fraudsters and scam centers that steal billions of dollars from hardworking Americans, no matter where they operate or how well-connected they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Industrial-scale cyberscamming, based in scam centers in Burma (also known as Myanmar) and Cambodia, has become a major money-maker for organized crime groups.<\/p>\n

The Treasury said in a statement that operators within this network have \u201cstolen millions of dollars from U.S. victims while operating under the protection of Kok An and his political connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tricked Using \u2018Romantic Relationships\u2019<\/h2>\n

The Treasury said fraudsters use \u201cthe lure of friendship or romantic relationships\u201d to coax vulnerable Americans into transferring their savings in the form of digital assets by promising investment opportunities and high returns.<\/p>\n

Matthew Hogan, a detective with the Connecticut State Police and an officer on the Secret Service\u2019s Financial Crimes Task Forces, told The Epoch Times last year that the biggest growth has been in long-term scams known as \u201cpig butchering,\u201d which involves luring people into fake cryptocurrency investments<\/strong>. The phrase comes from the Chinese term \u201csha zhu pan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Treasury said Kok owns numerous companies, including Crown Resorts, and has retrofitted casinos and office parks as scam centers where workers\u2014who are often trafficked from China and other countries\u2014target U.S. citizens and trick people out of cryptocurrency, which is then laundered by Kok\u2019s associates.<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly all major scam compounds in Cambodia are connected to casinos, which serve to launder the proceeds of scams,<\/strong>\u201d the Treasury said.<\/p>\n

Kok is a senator from the ruling Cambodian People\u2019s Party. It was founded during the Cold War, and was close to the Soviet Union and later communist Vietnam. It dropped its Marxist-Leninist ideology in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

Andy Jenkinson, a fellow of the Cyber Theory Institute and author of the book \u201cStuxnet to Sunburst: 20 Years of Digital Exploitation and Cyber Warfare,\u201d told<\/a> The Epoch Times in April 2025 that the annual losses to cybercrime globally are \u201cover $10 trillion, or put it another way, $32 billion a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tether Freezes $344 Million USDT<\/h2>\n

The move was announced hours after stablecoin issuer Tether froze $344 million in its USDT stablecoin, allegedly linked to \u201csanctions evasion, criminal networks, or other illicit activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen wallets are identified as connected to sanctions evasion, criminal networks, or other illicit activity, Tether can move to restrict those assets,<\/strong>\u201d Tether said.<\/p>\n

The company also said it maintained a zero-tolerance policy toward the criminal use of USDT, and has long followed OFAC guidelines on sanctioned individuals and entities.<\/p>\n

Reuters contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 04\/24\/2026 – 19:00<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Sanctions Cambodian Senator Linked To Crypto Romance Scam Centers Authored by Chris Summers via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The United States on April 23 imposed sanctions on a wealthy Cambodian senator, Kok An, who allegedly ran crypto-romance scam centers that stole millions of dollars from U.S. citizens. Thai soldiers stand outside an abandoned… Continue reading US Sanctions Cambodian Senator Linked To Crypto Romance Scam Centers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":591304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-591303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=591303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/591304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=591303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=591303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=591303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}