Tag: cambodia

63 Arrested, Crypto Millions Frozen As FBI, DOJ Team Up With Meta, Coinbase And Starlink To Bust Scammers

More than 1 million scam-related online accounts were taken down, and millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency were frozen, as part of a crackdown on Southeast Asian scam networks.

The crackdown operations, conducted by U.S. and international agencies led by the Department of Justice (DOJ), began on May 18, when the DOJ’s Scam Center Strike Force brought together the FBI, Royal Thai Police, and law enforcement agencies from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand to identify and disrupt criminal scam networks.

Meta, Microsoft, Starlink, and Coinbase were part of joint operations held in Washington and Bangkok, Meta said in a June 3 statement.

“More than a million online assets were disrupted as a result of the operation – including 1.4 million accounts, pages, and groups across Facebook and Instagram, 20,000 Microsoft accounts, and thousands of Starlink kits – and the Royal Thai Police has arrested 63 individuals involved in scam operations,” Meta said.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase “froze more than $3 million in cryptocurrency assets tied to criminal networks.” In addition, Starlink “terminated connectivity for thousands of Starlink kits that were attributed to unlawful use,” it said.

Criminal syndicates behind the fraud have exploited millions of people globally via romance scams and investment fraud, and through utilizing forced labor. This makes coordinated disruption critical to protecting people, Meta said.

FBI Director Kash Patel thanked Meta for the company’s assistance in a June 3 post on X, and said the operation was “just the beginning!”

The DOJ said that the joint initiative interrupted malicious network connections hosted by scammers. Moreover, servers and hosting infrastructure associated with the scam networks in Southeast Asia were decommissioned.

Many scam centers are run from Laos, Cambodia, and Burma along the border with Thailand, across several industrial-scale compounds.

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Geopolitical Powder Keg Erupts: Thai F-16s Strike Cambodian Targets In Border Clash 

A long-standing border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia sharply escalated overnight, with reports that a Thai F-16 fighter jet conducted air-to-ground strikes on multiple Cambodian military positions near the disputed border region.

Reuters reports that Thailand readied six F-16 fighter jets but deployed only one along the disputed border. The F-16 conducted airstrikes on military targets in Cambodia. Both Southeast Asian nations have accused each other of starting the conflict.

Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon told reporters earlier, “We have used air power against military targets as planned.” 

In response to the attacks, Cambodia’s defense ministry said that it “strongly condemns the reckless and brutal military aggression of the Kingdom of Thailand against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia.” 

Here are more details via Bloomberg:

Both Southeast Asian nations accused the other of starting the clashes, which were reported at six locations and follow a build up of tensions since a Cambodian soldier was killed in an exchange of gunfire in May.

Thailand said its fighter jets hit two Cambodian army bases near the border on Thursday, while Thai army reported that rockets fired from Cambodia killed several civilians, citing provincial authorities. The fatalities included an 8-year-old child, and 14 others were injured. The number of casualties on the Cambodian side remains unclear.

“The dispute is escalating rapidly and could turn into a serious conflict if left unattended,” said Jayant Menon, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, quoted by Bloomberg. 

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BLOOD ON HIS HANDS

TA SOUS, CAMBODIA — At the end of a dusty path snaking through rice paddies lives a woman who survived multiple U.S. airstrikes as a child.

Round-faced and just over 5 feet tall in plastic sandals, Meas Lorn lost an older brother to a helicopter gunship attack and an uncle and cousins to artillery fire. For decades, one question haunted her: “I still wonder why those aircraft always attacked in this area. Why did they drop bombs here?”

The U.S. carpet bombing of Cambodia between 1969 and 1973 has been well documented, but its architect, former national security adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who will turn 100 on Saturday, bears responsibility for more violence than has been previously reported. An investigation by The Intercept provides evidence of previously unreported attacks that killed or wounded hundreds of Cambodian civilians during Kissinger’s tenure in the White House. When questioned about his culpability for these deaths, Kissinger responded with sarcasm and refused to provide answers.

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