Safeer Mohammed Koorimannil, trafficked to a scam center in Myanmar, impersonated a 28-year-old Singaporean woman named Ella, chatting with over 100 people across dozens of profiles during a typical shift. Supervisors patrolled desks with electric batons. In just one month, Koorimannil targeted approximately 50,000 victims from at least 17 countries, according to records he smuggled out to The Associated Press. His targets included a widowed tailor, a pastry chef, a sheep farmer, soldiers, and an engineer. He described the environment, stating, “Everyone is a robot there.”
An investigation by The Associated Press and "FRONTLINE" revealed that technology from American corporations powers a revolution in the scam industry. This technology plays a key role in the industrialization and globalization of fraud. Watchdogs assert that these companies possess the technical capacity to prevent abuse but lack the legal, regulatory, and business incentives to act. The Federal Trade Commission estimates these crimes cost Americans nearly $200 billion in losses in 2024 alone.
The investigation found that the infrastructure exploited for fraud originates far upstream from the social media platforms victims encounter. American technology is present throughout the digital supply chains connecting scammers to the scammed. This includes AI models integrated into powerful new tools for workflow optimization and creating convincing fakes, satellite dishes that circumvent internet crackdowns, and internet service providers carrying traffic from lawless borderlands to millions of victims.
The AP found no evidence of illegal activity by these companies themselves. However, the documented abuse of their tools and tech infrastructure at Myanmar scam compounds raises questions about the enforcement of their own terms of service, which prohibit illegal activity and explicitly ban fraud.
Profits from Misery
American-made AI models, primarily ChatGPT and Gemini, were used to construct specialized software. This software allowed scammers to operate across dozens of languages, surveil workers, and target victims globally. C4ADS, a Washington-based nonprofit, assisted in this finding. Scammers who acquired these tools generated tens of millions of dollars, according to blockchain analysis by TRM Labs.
Myanmar’s scam compound economy relies on a sophisticated, global internet infrastructure. Services from Cogent Communications, AT&T, DigitalOcean, and Oracle, among others, support these operations. An AP analysis of over 200,000 device connections showed that one in five signals from four scam compounds linked to sanctioned entities in Myanmar was carried by a U.S.-registered company. Elon Musk’s satellite internet company, Starlink, is the leading internet service provider in Myanmar, including for scam centers, despite public pressure and a widely publicized crackdown last fall.
At least 25 new scam compounds have been constructed deep inside Myanmar since a high-profile crackdown along the Thai border last fall. Satellite imagery confirmed this expansion. Scammers from at least 13 of these outposts utilized Starlink IP addresses to access the internet between early March and the end of May. Cybersecurity experts contend that internet service providers, AI companies, and Starlink could do more to prevent abuse but lack the necessary incentives. Sascha Meinrath, a telecommunications chair at Penn State, 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 is the problem. It’s identifiable, it’s addressable — at least somewhat — but it costs something. And right now the cost of facilitating scamming is zero.”
The Human Cost of Capital
Koorimannil endured beatings for poor performance, leaving his body red and swollen with lashes. He and his friend eventually paid 500,000 Indian rupees ($5,300) each for their freedom. Ebisa, an Ethiopian engineer, was trafficked to Deko Park, where he was beaten, shocked, detained, and forced to exercise for hours for failing to meet impossible performance goals. He was blinded in one eye after a severe beating by security guards. Obinna Okeadu, a Nigerian also tricked into working at Deko Park, died after a punishment beating on October 28, 2025. His computer disappeared, and his name was deleted from work chats the next day.
Chris Colocousis, a divorced man in his 60s, lost $400,000 he “invested” under a scammer’s guidance. This sum robbed him of the secure retirement he had worked years to achieve. Colocousis lamented, “You just feel like your whole world fell apart.” He added, “I’m all for capitalism, but when it’s totally ruining people’s lives, people that have worked their whole life towards a goal so that they don’t have to work anymore, only to have it just ripped out of their chest — you know, something’s wrong.”
The State's Limited Reach
In Washington, lawmakers and government officials have urged American tech companies to cooperate voluntarily in cutting off scammers from U.S. infrastructure. In November, District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro established the Scam Center Strike Force to target scam compounds. A four-day exercise in May saw the Strike Force work with Meta, SpaceX, and Google to disrupt over 1.4 million social media and email accounts, interrupt malicious IP traffic, and seize satellite internet terminals. Pirro declared, “We will not allow criminal organizations to weaponize our own infrastructure against us or devastate the life savings of hardworking families.”
OpenAI and Google assert they have robust programs to proactively disrupt scammers. Starlink did not respond to detailed requests for comment. Internet service providers claim they cannot see network content due to privacy by design, stating they respond to abuse reports and cooperate with law enforcement. OpenAI identified and banned three accounts using its models for scams based on AP information. Oracle stated it was “diligently working with law enforcement.”
Despite a U.S. court order last year to seize Starlink accounts from specific Myanmar scam compounds and announcements of service cuts, Starlink remains the most widely used internet provider in Myanmar, including at known scam compounds. SpaceX’s October service cuts demonstrated its ability to sever scam centers from satellites, revealing the criminal networks' significance to its user base. Starlink’s own coverage map indicates it does not sell services in Myanmar. Lauren Dreyer, VP of Starlink business operations, stated the company has “zero tolerance” for abuse.
However, Starlink’s service cuts have not halted scammers, even from high-profile compounds like KK Park. After Myanmar’s military government began demolishing KK Park in October, scammers simply scattered, taking their technology with them. By January, at least seven devices from KK Park had migrated to a new compound 30 kilometers northwest. Eric Heintz, a global analyst at International Justice Mission, noted, “These new compounds are showing up in the middle of nowhere and they’re walled multibuilding complexes with a bunch of these terminals on the roof.” Heintz identified at least 25 new sites that have appeared or grown significantly since last fall’s crackdown. Satellite imagery confirmed empty fields transformed into industrial-scale office parks in months, with new roads and white satellite dishes dotting rooftops. Geolocated device data showed scammers from at least 13 of these new sites logging on with Starlink. This ongoing collaboration between The Associated Press and "FRONTLINE" will include an upcoming documentary.