Moolenaar, Khanna Release Investigation Exposing Billion-Dollar, China-Linked Scam Centers Targeting Americans

Today, Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar and Ranking Member Ro Khanna released a new investigation exposing a vast, China-linked scam center network that has defrauded Americans of at least $10 billion annually while fueling human trafficking, cybercrime, and illicit finance.

“These scam centers with deep links to China are a broad network of fraud, human trafficking, cybercrime, and illicit finance that are ripping off Americans and threatening our national security,” warned Moolenaar. “If the Chinese government wanted to act against these criminals, it could, but it chooses not to.”

“This investigation is about standing up for the millions of Americans who have lost billions of dollars to these scams, as well as the human trafficking victims who have been lured into scam compounds by China-linked crime syndicates. Verifiable bilateral cooperation with Beijing, alongside engagement with and funding for civil society groups, is essential to getting justice and compensation for victims of CCP-linked transnational fraud and holding these scammers accountable,” said Khanna. 

The Select Committee found that the scam centers concentrated in southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia and Burma, are part of a distributed criminal ecosystem linking cyber fraud, human trafficking, and money laundering.

Rather than direct state control or any state-backed conspiracy, the report concludes that Chinese governance and enforcement patterns have enabled the growth of these criminal networks. Their operations rely heavily on Chinese underground banking networks, cryptocurrency brokers, and shell companies to move and launder funds across borders. The report highlights the widespread use of trafficked labor, with thousands of individuals coerced into conducting scams under threat of violence inside fortified compounds.

The Select Committee warns that these scam networks are not only defrauding Americans but also undermining stability in southeast Asia. The networks weaken U.S. partners and expand the CCP’s influence in a key region for the strategic competition between the U.S. and China. The Select Committee highlights the importance of civil society and diplomacy in countering this threat.

You can read the report entitled, "Crime, Corruption, and Power: CCP-Linked Transnational Crime and the Rise of a Distributed Threat to U.S. National Security," here.