Washington, Sep 16 (IANS) The FBI has seized $17 billion linked to international scam centres, freed thousands of trafficked workers and made hundreds of arrests during operations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, Director Kash Patel has told US lawmakers.
Patel disclosed the figures Tuesday during an oversight hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said the FBI was confronting an international fraud industry valued at about $240 billion.
“The entire enterprise is probably $240 billion in fraud, and that’s probably low,” Patel said.
He described two broad categories. The first involved fraud targeting government programmes, including Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance and pandemic-era business relief. The second involved scam centres that contact victims by telephone, email or text message.
“They are looking to basically call, email, text you and your constituents across this country and take you for everything you’ve got, your retirement, your life savings, your kids’ college education, what have you,” Patel said.
The FBI launched Operation Blackout to target scam centres operating across borders, including in Burma and Thailand, he said.
Patel described it as the only law enforcement-led US government initiative focused specifically on such compounds.
“We stood up a symposium there. We went and raided four compounds there,” Patel said. “We raided another in the Middle East. We seized $17 billion in illicit gotten gains out of these scam center fraud schemes. We freed thousands of trafficked workers and made hundreds of arrests.”
Patel said some scam centres were large compounds resembling cities. Workers trafficked into the facilities were allegedly forced to carry out online fraud against people in other countries.
“We went in there with our partners and bulldozed them to end the fraud,” he said.
The FBI worked with foreign law enforcement agencies during the operations, according to Patel. He did not identify the Middle Eastern country involved or provide a breakdown of the seized funds, arrests and rescued workers.
The director also said the FBI had captured six fugitives placed on its newly created Most Wanted Fraudsters list. Those suspects had collectively remained at large for about 5,000 days, he said.
One suspect was captured in Vietnam after allegedly defrauding the US Medicaid programme of more than $100 million.
Patel said other suspects had fled to Africa, Southeast Asia and distant jurisdictions after allegedly stealing hundreds of millions of dollars.
“We brought them all back to be prosecuted,” he said. “And we’re looking to seize all those funds.”
Republican Senator Ashley Moody of Florida said older Americans were frequently targeted by online and telephone scams. She called for closer cooperation among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
“Are we seeing cyber scams at a magnitude that we have never seen?” Moody asked.
“Do it and do it yesterday,” Patel said when asked whether Congress should establish teams bringing together agencies from different levels of government to combat scams targeting senior citizens.
Organised scam centres have become a major transnational crime problem across parts of Southeast Asia. Criminal groups frequently use fraudulent investment offers, fake romantic relationships, cryptocurrency schemes and impersonation scams to steal money from victims around the world.
–IANS
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