American citizens lost nearly $200 billion in 2024 to a globalized fraud industry, an investigation by The Associated Press and "FRONTLINE" revealed. This staggering sum, which devastates the life savings of hardworking families, is directly enabled by technology from American companies. Chris Colocousis, a divorced man in his 60s, saw his $400,000 retirement savings vanish, leaving him shaken and struggling to leave his home.
The investigation found that American technology plays a key role in the industrialization and globalization of fraud. Infrastructure is exploited far upstream from the social media platforms victims encounter. AI models baked into powerful new tools, satellite dishes evading internet crackdowns, and internet service providers carrying traffic from lawless borderlands all connect scammers with millions of victims.
Watchdogs report that these tech companies possess the technical capacity to protect against abuse but lack the legal, regulatory, and business incentives to act. Sascha Meinrath, the Palmer chair in telecommunications at Penn State University, stated, “If there’s no disincentive to continuing this, if there’s no cost to actually facilitating scamming, then why would I spend a dollar to prevent scamming?” This statement underscores the absence of corporate motivation to prevent these scams.
The Architects of Dispossession
American-made AI models, chiefly ChatGPT and Gemini, were used to build specialized software. This software allows scammers to operate across dozens of languages and target victims globally. Identified as Kongtian Intelligent Customer Acquisition (KT) and Global Social Traffic Navigation (007TG), it generated tens of millions of dollars in illicit profits for scammers, according to blockchain analysis by TRM Labs.
A sophisticated, global internet infrastructure supports Myanmar’s scam compound economy. It relies on services from major U.S. companies including Cogent Communications, AT&T, DigitalOcean, and Oracle. An AP analysis found that one in five signals from devices at four scam compounds linked to sanctioned entities in Myanmar was carried by a U.S.-registered company.
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet company is the number one internet service provider in Myanmar, including to known scam centers. This persists despite public pressure from Congress and a widely publicized crackdown last fall. Scammers from at least 13 new outposts used Starlink IP addresses to get online between early March and the end of May, even after a U.S. court order in November to seize Starlink accounts from specific Myanmar scam compounds.
While the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, and Singapore have introduced new regulations requiring companies to prevent scams or face financial penalties, Washington lawmakers and government officials still ask American tech companies to cooperate on a voluntary basis. This disparity highlights Washington's reliance on voluntary cooperation from American tech companies, contrasting with stricter regulations elsewhere.
The Cost to the Native Stock
District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro created the Scam Center Strike Force to target scam compounds. She stated, “We will not allow criminal organizations to weaponize our own infrastructure against us or devastate the life savings of hardworking families.” Pirro's statement highlights the weaponization of national infrastructure and the devastation of family savings.
Chris Colocousis, who lost $400,000, described his experience: “You just feel like your whole world fell apart.” He had spent years working for a secure retirement, only to have it “ripped out of his chest.” Colocousis's account illustrates the economic dispossession experienced by many Americans.
The United Nations reports that Myanmar has become a haven for industrial-scale scam compounds. These operations have drafted some 300,000 people from dozens of countries, often against their will. This network of exploitation is enabled by Western technology.
Starlink’s own coverage map states it does not sell services in Myanmar, yet it holds a nearly 20% share of the market there today, according to APNIC data. SpaceX’s October service cuts demonstrated the company's ability to sever scam centers from its satellites, indicating its capacity to act against these operations.
Even after Myanmar’s military government began demolishing KK Park, a high-profile scam compound, and broadcast images of seized Starlink terminals, the scammers simply scattered. By January, at least seven devices used at KK Park had migrated to a new compound some 30 kilometers to the northwest, near Hpakalu, continuing their operations with Starlink. Eric Heintz, a global analyst at International Justice Mission, noted that these new compounds are "walled multibuilding complexes with a bunch of these terminals on the roof," indicating their continued operation.