Gate News message, April 24 — The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Cambodian senator Kok An, who allegedly controls scam compounds throughout the country, along with 28 other individuals and entities linked to his network. The move targets what OFAC describes as a sophisticated fraud operation that has defrauded Americans of millions of dollars by convincing them to send cryptocurrency under the guise of legitimate investment platforms promising high returns.
According to OFAC, fraudsters lure victims through friendship or romantic relationships before directing them to send funds in crypto form. The agency noted that in some cases, individuals perpetrating these scams are themselves victims of human trafficking forced to commit unlawful acts under threat of violence. Kok An’s network operates out of casinos and office parks retrofitted for fraudulent activity, laundering victims’ funds while targeting U.S. citizens and committing human rights abuses. The sanctions coincide with the seizure of over 500 fraudulent web domains used to perpetuate cryptocurrency investment fraud.
The action follows a police raid on two scam centers in Poipet, a Cambodian city near the Thai border, on April 23. Kok An was previously accused by police of running scam centers in Poipet last year. According to reporting, Chinese syndicates operating in Cambodia have grown to such scale that some foreign politicians refer to the country as ‘Scambodia.’ In September 2025, OFAC sanctioned an extensive network of cybercriminals across Southeast Asia, including ten targets based in Cambodia.
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## Overview
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## The
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