US, Britain to coordinate on scam center takedowns

The United States and United Kingdom will work together on an initiative to shut down scam centers stealing billions of dollars through investment and romance fraud schemes.

In a memorandum of understanding signed on Thursday, Department of Justice officials agreed to conduct parallel investigations and share information on the organized crime syndicates behind the scam centers — many of which are headquartered in Southeast Asia.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro met with senior officials from the U.K.’s National Crime Agency and Crown Prosecutor on Thursday to sign the memorandum. Pirro said their goal was to “disable” the Chinese gangs that run the scam compounds.

As part of the memorandum, the two countries will “discuss which jurisdictions to bring specific cases of common interest, and generally prioritize cases on this threat to achieve mutual results.”

“Both the UK and US counterparts had already identified significant cases of overlap, and committed to joining forces for an in-person disruption event with private industry partners, hosted by the National Crime Agency in London in early October,” the Justice Department said.

The effort is being led by the Scam Center Strike Force, which was launched in November to coordinate U.S. law enforcement efforts to address cyber scams. The FBI said cyber-enabled fraud schemes were responsible for almost 85% of all losses reported to the agency. More than $12 billion was stolen from Americans last year in cyber scams but the figure is likely a severe undercount considering many victims do not report losses.

The scams are primarily conducted by human trafficking victims housed in compounds across Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and other countries. Chinese gangs run the compounds with the help of compromised local officials.

The Scam Center Strike Force is led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Seifert, who told Congress in March that it has more than 150 personnel including prosecutors and agents from the FBI, IRS and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

The effort’s biggest success to date was the disruption of Prince Group, a Chinese front company used to launder the billions obtained through the scams. U.S. and U.K. agencies imposed sanctions on Prince Group, and the Justice Department seized about $15 billion worth of bitcoin linked to the company’s CEO Chen Zhi.