Americans lost at least $10 billion to China-linked scam networks in 2024 alone. On Tuesday, Congress finally started treating it like the emergency it is.
Americans lost at least $10 BILLION to China-linked scams in 2024, and the threat is growing.
— Select Committee on China (@ChinaSelect) May 19, 2026
Today, Chairman @RepMoolenaar laid out how China-linked criminal networks are operating at industrial scale powered by illicit finance, human trafficking, and weak governance in… pic.twitter.com/dpqpx9KgfP
Americans lost at least $10 BILLION to China-linked scams in 2024, and the threat is growing.
Today, Chairman @RepMoolenaar laid out how China-linked criminal networks are operating at industrial scale powered by illicit finance, human trafficking, and weak governance in Southeast Asia.
This is not isolated fraud. It’s a national security challenge, and Congress must act.
"These victims are our families, neighbors, and friends," Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) told the committee. "They are being ripped off by sophisticated criminal networks linked to China."
Across Cambodia, Burma, and Laos, fortified compounds serve as the operational hubs of this criminal empire. Trafficked workers, lured by fake job ads, stripped of their passports, beaten, and threatened with death, are forced to run investment fraud schemes, romance scams, and cryptocurrency theft operations targeting Americans. The committee's new investigative report documents how Chinese underground banking networks, cryptocurrency brokers, and shell companies move the proceeds across borders faster than any law enforcement agency can track them.
Watch the full hearing here:
Crime, Corruption, and Power: The Rise of CCP-linked Scam Networks Targeting Americans https://t.co/QbM12pOEb9
— Select Committee on China (@ChinaSelect) May 19, 2026
Erin West, founder of Operation Shamrock and a former 26-year Deputy District Attorney from Santa Clara County, California, put a face on the crisis. She told the committee about Chris, a retired Army officer from Massachusetts who lost 90 percent of his retirement savings to a scammer posing as a woman on Facebook. He asked for a video call to verify she was real. She was ready for that, too.
He called local police. No resources. Filed an FBI report. Never heard back. The Secret Service said the loss was too small to prioritize.
From Massachusetts to Wisconsin, Americans are losing billions, while China-linked scam compounds overseas operate with impunity.@OpShamrock's Erin West calls it a “scamdemic," and she’s right.
— Select Committee on China (@ChinaSelect) May 19, 2026
This is bigger than fraud it’s a coordinated, global threat. pic.twitter.com/wkK6hR4Tm9
"The fake profile used to scam him is still active today on Instagram. He has reported it repeatedly. Meta has responded that it does not violate community standards."
West also told the committee about Don, a retired Florida engineer who lost more than half a million dollars. When law enforcement wouldn't help, he didn't wait. He flew to Singapore and Laos at his own expense, hired a Chinese law firm, and personally identified the kingpin running the compounds. Don had no badge, no subpoena power, and no government backing. He still got further than anyone with all three.
"Why in the United States in 2026 are victims having to solve their own crimes?"
These compounds don't just enjoy political protection. In Cambodia, they are the political system. Jacob Sims, a researcher with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, pointed to Hunto, cousin of Prime Minister Hun Manet and a 30 percent shareholder in a firm the Treasury Department calls the world's largest illicit marketplace. Hunto has never been sanctioned, never been indicted, and is free to visit the United States today.
“Scam compounds are just the visible front.”@HarvardAsia's @jdanielsims warns the real threat of these China-linked scam networks is the system behind them, a global network of criminal actors, political protection, and CCP-linked enablers.
— Select Committee on China (@ChinaSelect) May 19, 2026
To stop the harm to Americans, we… pic.twitter.com/t6j8g9KLCo
“Scam compounds are just the visible front.”
@HarvardAsia's @jdanielsims warns the real threat of these China-linked scam networks is the system behind them, a global network of criminal actors, political protection, and CCP-linked enablers.
To stop the harm to Americans, we must dismantle the scam architecture throughout SE Asia, not just the compounds.
"The scam compound is only the visible front end. The deeper threat is the political architecture that protects it."
Jason Tower, a Myanmar and Southeast Asia expert with the same organization, traced how this started. Chinese police crackdowns on domestic gambling in the 2000s pushed criminal syndicates into Southeast Asia. When Beijing later cracked down on scams targeting Chinese nationals after 2020, the syndicates didn't stop. They pivoted to Americans. Data from one seized Myanmar compound showed more than 50 percent of activity targeted U.S. phone numbers.
Chinese police campaigns in the 2000s pushed illegal gambling syndicates into Southeast Asia, where they fueled corruption, undermined governance, and built today’s industrial-scale scam compounds.@GI_TOC's @Jason_Tower79 explains how China’s policies pushed criminal networks… pic.twitter.com/fup4slzakm
— Select Committee on China (@ChinaSelect) May 19, 2026
Chinese police campaigns in the 2000s pushed illegal gambling syndicates into Southeast Asia, where they fueled corruption, undermined governance, and built today’s industrial-scale scam compounds.
@GI_TOC's @Jason_Tower79 explains how China’s policies pushed criminal networks overseas, where they now exploit victims in the United States.
Beijing didn't build these networks. It built the conditions that let them thrive, and when it suited Chinese interests to look the other way, it did. Moolenaar put it plainly: China has the ability to crack down on these operators. It simply chooses not to.
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The Trump administration has stood up a Scam Center Strike Force led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, seizing more than $700 million in cryptocurrency and securing criminal indictments against Chinese nationals managing fraud compounds in Burma. Moolenaar and the witnesses were unanimous that isolated arrests won't solve a problem this deeply embedded. Congress needs to pass the Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates Act, bipartisan legislation with over 60 co-sponsors that would give the federal government the tools to go after the full network, not just the nodes it can reach.
West's testimony closed with a warning: "Americans are losing their retirements, their homes, and in some cases, their lives. We are not at the beginning of this crisis. We are four years behind."
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