OPINION — “Cripple the economies of the US and Europe.” That’s what fraudsters in Southeast Asia chant each morning as they bend over their keyboards to begin the daily work of scamming our fellow Americans out of their life’s savings, according to an escapee from a Chinese-run scam camp interviewed by the Economist.
Cyber-based scams are fast becoming the crime of the 21st century. Jurgen Stock, the head of Interpol, called transnational organized crime an “epidemic” so severe that it constitutes a “global security emergency.” Stock continued, “We face an adversary with relentless ambition. An adversary able to turn to new tools like AI to supercharge their frauds and cyber enabled crimes.”
The United States is in the crosshairs of foreign organized criminals perpetrating cyber-enabled financial crime. Criminals tell Secret Service informants that they are shifting to target U.S. citizens and financial institutions because other countries are raising stronger anti-scam defenses.
You see it nearly every day—a blizzard of sketchy emails, texts, and phone calls. Fake invoices, fake package delivery notices, fake job offers, fake crypto deals. One wrong click, and you’re in big trouble. Next time you receive such a message, think to yourself: “I’ve just been attacked by foreign criminals.”
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Cyberscams – by the numbers
Every day, more than 57,000 Americans are scammed, according to Gallup. That’s 21 million Americans per year—about the population of Florida. The FTC estimates that annual losses total $158 billion. That’s a huge hit to the U.S. economy and tax base—comparable to the annual revenues of companies like Citigroup or Home Depot.
Victims report an average loss of $14,197 to the FBI; seniors report losing $33,915 on average. Some lose their entire life’s savings, their house, or even their lives through suicide. And it’s not just seniors who are affected. The FBI calls sextortion scams “A Growing Threat Preying Upon Our Nation’s Teens.”
The source
Cyber-enabled scams originate mainly from criminal gangs based in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, India, and Nigeria, but the scam business model is so lucrative that it is spreading globally. Chinese crime bosses lead many of the Southeast Asia crime groups, which have recruited human slaves to run their scams. The UN says more than 220,000 people are forced to work as scammers in Myanmar and Cambodia.
Where do the stolen dollars go? To fuel even more criminal activity and strengthen our enemies. British government research has shown links between fraud and slavery, human trafficking, and drugs. The U.S. Treasury Department says that Mexico-based cartels are scamming Americans and using the proceeds “to finance other criminal activities, including the manufacturing and trafficking of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the United States.” About half of North Korea’s missile program has been funded by cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft, according to a White House official.
A US Secret Service official referred to transnational fraud as an “epidemic” and recently told a Congressional Committee:
Defeating this organized criminal activity is not just a humanitarian imperative, but a critical national security concern, as we have seen substantial interplay between … organized transnational fraud schemes and foreign efforts to evade sanctions, steal funds, profit from ransomware, and other criminal activity.
U.S. law enforcement is overwhelmed by the tsunami of fraud. A Secret Service official recently testified that “transnational fraud threats far exceed the current capacity of U.S. law enforcement to sufficiently deter.” Because of resource constraints, only about 1/10th of 1 percent of fraud cases are investigated, according to Congressional testimony from a Deputy District Attorney.
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What can be done?
But we can fight back, and London and Canberra are showing the way. The British and Australian governments have developed a strategy, appointed someone to lead it, and instituted strong measures to counter fraud. As a result, the UK and Australia both report significant declines in such crimes over the last year, whereas U.S. fraud losses are increasing by more than 20 percent per year.
The United States has confronted complex criminal threats in the past, and we know how to respond.
- In 1984, President Reagan created the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). A private nonprofit, NCMEC continues to act as an information clearinghouse to help locate missing children and to raise public awareness.
- In 1988, Reagan created the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to coordinate drug-related legislative, security, and health policy across the government.
There have been other examples. But when it comes to financial crimes like these scams, no one in the U.S. Government is in charge. There is no information clearing house, no coordinating mechanism, no center for raising public awareness. The criminals are organized, but we are not.
The issue isn’t partisan. We can all agree that foreign criminal enterprises ripping off Americans—many of them elderly—is something that needs to stop.
To organize for the fight ahead, the White House must make combating consumer fraud a national priority. The White House and Congress should create a centralized reporting system, an anti-scam fusion center, and boost law enforcement resources. And Washington must work closely with leading U.S. companies to disrupt the tools used by scammers: malicious ads, spoofed phone calls and texts, and fraudulent websites. We have the technology—we just need the will.
Other countries are protecting their citizens through smart authentication and blocking:
- Google and Meta stop fake financial ads in the UK and Australia by requiring financial services advertisers to demonstrate that they are on a government-authorized list.
- In the UK, fraudulent websites are taken down at scale by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), an arm of GCHQ.
- And in 19 countries—including Australia and the UK—telecom companies block international inbound calls that spoof a domestic number (example: a call originating in India that pretends to be from Seattle.)
The British and Australian governments have shown that with an organized and adequately funded approach, they can save their citizens and economies billions of dollars in losses to criminals. The UK government’s goal is to be “the safest place in the world to be online.” Australia’s goal: “to ensure Australia is the toughest target for scammers.” When will our leaders make the same commitment?
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