US offers $10M bounty to dismantle Burma’s Tai Chang crypto scam empire

According to the Department of State, a reward of up to $10 million will be offered for information leading to the seizure and recovery of proceeds obtained through money laundering associated with fraud emanating from the Tai Chang complexes in Burma. 

According to the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program, the reward is meant to bring down the network known for defrauding Americans by luring them into crypto investments.

FBI and DOJ intensify hunt for Southeast Asia crypto scammers

According to reports, the reward has been set by the State Department’s INL, acting on behalf of the Department of Justice’s Scam Center Strike Force.

As per the reward guidelines, tips will be managed by the FBI. The informant’s absolute confidentiality will be ensured. Persons working in government and government officials will not receive the reward. 

In addition, persons located outside the United States may contact their nearest embassy or consulate, and those in the United States may contact the nearest FBI office or [email protected].

This Tai Chang reward is part of a number of recent U.S. government efforts. The Department of Justice has filed charges against two Chinese nationals for running a scam compound in Burma and trying to set up another one in Cambodia. 

The US has also taken control of a Telegram messaging app used to lure victims into a scam compound in Cambodia, as well as taken down 503 fake websites used in crypto investment scams. 

At the same time, the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Senator Kok An of Cambodia, who runs several scam compounds, along with 28 other individuals and entities in his network.

As reported by Cryptopolitan, global authorities are working hard to curb crypto crimes, with recent court decisions from countries such as China, the UK, and Morocco emphasizing tough penalties for culprits.

In Fuzhou, China, the Intermediate People’s Court dismissed an appeal and handed down a 12-year, 7-month prison sentence to an individual known as Lin. The individual was also fined 300,000 yuan.

Profiling Tai Chang crypto scam empire in Burma’s Karen State

According to statistics from the US Government, the American people lost more than $7.2 billion in 2025 due to scams originating in Southeast Asia. Tai Chang and other such scamming centers have been playing a pivotal role in this spike, aided by technology, and conducting massive fraud operations from these centers. 

The FBI has carried out numerous cases involving the seizure of scam funds, with a particular emphasis on cryptocurrency seizures. There is always the element of human trafficking in these types of scams, in which the people are forced to work at the center to conduct such scams.

Tai Chang includes several compounds used in large-scale online scams, including investment scams involving digital assets. Some of the detected compounds include:

• Tai Chang 1.0, also known as Kyuakhat Casino or Ko Sai, which is located at GPS coordinates 16.467242N, 98.648357E and 16.472469N, 98.645868E.  
• Tai Chang 2.0, also known as Taih or Qingsong, is at 16.425472N, 98.635806.  
• Tai Chang 3.0 at 16.491389N, 98.589722.

The centers are among the transnational criminal organizations in Southeast Asia. As reported by Cryptopolitan, the FBI and Dubai Police recently brought down a crypto scamming empire that had cost Americans millions of dollars. This crackdown has led to the arrest of 276 suspects along with the closure of nine scamming centers, mostly in the UAE. 

The nine fraud sites served as hubs where fraudulent acts could be committed by groups that maintained the false pretenses to coerce victims into investing further.

Among those arrested were purported managers and recruiters, even some coming from Burma and Indonesia. The three suspects now face charges of wire fraud and money laundering in the Southern District of California.

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