American AI tools and internet companies are quietly powering a billion-dollar overseas scam industry that stole at least $10 billion from Americans in 2024 alone.
Story Snapshot
- Scammers in Myanmar used ChatGPT and Gemini to build software that fakes romance in dozens of languages and targets victims worldwide.
- One in five internet signals from four sanctioned scam compounds in Myanmar traveled through U.S. companies like AT&T and Cogent Communications.
- Americans lost at least $10 billion to Southeast Asia-based scams in 2024, with losses expected to grow in 2025.
- The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned dozens of individuals and businesses tied to these fraud networks, but federal efforts remain fragmented.
AI Tools Built for Deception
Scammers operating out of Myanmar used American-made artificial intelligence models — mainly ChatGPT and Gemini — to build powerful fraud software. That software lets scam operators work across dozens of languages, watch over their workers, and zero in on victims around the world. Buyers of these tools pulled in tens of millions of dollars, according to blockchain analysis done by TRM Labs for the Associated Press and the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE.
The scam method is sometimes called “pig butchering.” Operators spend days or weeks building fake romantic relationships with targets online. Once trust is established, they push victims into fake investment schemes and drain their savings. A newer version, described as “foreigner butchering,” uses translation software and messaging apps to target Western men specifically. The whole operation runs like a business — with shifts, scripts, and AI filling in the gaps.
U.S. Internet Companies Carry the Traffic
The scam compounds don’t just use American AI — they run on American internet infrastructure. An Associated Press analysis of more than 200,000 device connections from four sanctioned scam compounds in Myanmar found that one in five signals passed through a U.S.-registered internet provider. Companies named in the analysis include Cogent Communications, AT&T, DigitalOcean, and Oracle. None of these companies are accused of knowingly helping scammers, but the data shows how deeply American tech is woven into the fraud pipeline.
The investigation was built on tens of thousands of leaked scam center files, videos, and photos. Reporters also reviewed connections made by devices over a full year at four compounds tied to entities sanctioned by the U.S. government. They interviewed 58 scam victims and more than three dozen current and former scammers from 19 countries. The scale of what they found is hard to ignore.
Billions Lost, Enforcement Lagging
Americans lost at least $10 billion to Southeast Asia-based scams in 2024, according to U.S. government estimates cited by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Losses are expected to keep climbing in 2025. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned dozens of individuals and businesses across Southeast Asia linked to these fraud networks. But a bipartisan commission has warned that U.S. efforts to fight back remain fragmented and under-resourced.
Romance scams have been growing nearly every year since 2006, with criminal syndicates now shifting their focus from Chinese victims toward Americans and other Westerners. Law enforcement faces a steep challenge because the scammers operate overseas, making arrests and prosecutions very difficult. For everyday Americans — many of whom are targeted through social media and dating apps — the threat is real, growing, and getting harder to spot as AI makes the fake personas more convincing than ever.
Sources:
pandasecurity.com, abcnews.com, linkedin.com
