US lawmakers have called for sanctions investigations into 28 foreign individuals and organisations, including Cambodian officials, business figures and White Sands Palace Casino, over alleged links to online scam centres operating across Southeast Asia.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast and House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, asking the departments to investigate the named parties and determine within 180 days whether they meet the legal criteria for US sanctions.
The lawmakers said casinos and other businesses may form part of the financial and political infrastructure supporting industrial-scale cyber fraud. They alleged Chinese transnational criminal organisations operating from Southeast Asia were behind rising losses among Americans.
“Americans are being scammed online at enormous and still growing rates,” Mast and Moolenaar wrote, citing cryptocurrency investment fraud, romance scams and other forms of psychological manipulation.
White Sands Palace Casino is among 28 proposed investigation targets
The list contains 26 individuals and two organisations: Fully Light Group of Companies Ltd. and White Sands Palace Casino. This letter described scam centres as industrial compounds where trafficking victims can be forced to carry out online fraud under threats, violence or debt bondage.
They stressed that inclusion on the list does not itself amount to a sanctions designation. State and Treasury officials would need to assess the evidence against each person or organisation under applicable US laws.
Cambodia says proposed sanctions targets need evidence-based review
According to local media outlet Kiripost, Cambodian Ministry of Interior spokesperson Touch Sokhak said the proposed investigation was not a new matter and that US authorities should consider the facts, evidence and legal implications before taking action.
Sokhak rejected allegations involving Interior Minister Sar Sokha, describing them as unfair. He said the minister had directed operations against online scams, including deporting suspected offenders and taking action against officials allegedly connected to scam activities.
Cambodia remained at Tier 3, the lowest ranking, in the US State Department’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report. The report alleged official complicity in scam operations.
Previous US action targeted casino-turned-scam sites
The letter follows earlier US measures against Southeast Asian scam networks, including sanctions imposed by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in September 2025.
This action targeted nine parties connected to Shwe Kokko in Myanmar and 10 based in Cambodia. The Treasury described Shwe Kokko as a centre for virtual currency investment fraud operating under the protection of the Karen National Army.
OFAC also targeted Cambodian properties originally developed as casinos but allegedly converted into scam centres after online fraud became more profitable. Based on stats from the Treasury, Americans lost at an estimated $10 billion to Southeast Asia-based scams in 2024, up 66% from the previous year. It said criminal groups recruited workers through false job offers before coercing them into contacting potential victims through messaging platforms and fraudulent investment websites.
The US move shows that casino properties are being viewed more as part of the wider financial infrastructure behind Southeast Asian scam operations. The first round of formal investigations for named individuals and organisations is important, but further scrutiny could increase pressure on casinos and businesses operating in markets riddled with scam networks.
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