Why Industrial-Scale Cyberscamming of US Victims Is Thriving in Burma

Cybercrime costs the global economy billions of dollars a day, but many of the perpetrators, in scam centers in Burma, could themselves be victims.

Scam center workers—many of whom were trafficked and forced to work for criminals—guarded by Karen National Army troops in Myawaddy, Burma, on Feb. 26, 2025. Stringer/Reuters

News Analysis

Every day, people in the United States and many other countries are being scammed—by phony customer service operators, romance fraudsters, and perpetrators of more complex cryptocurrency investment schemes.