On September 13, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Cambodian businessman Ly Yong Phat (Ly), his business group LYP Group Co., LTD (LYP Group), and O-Smach Resort for their involvement in serious human rights violations in an online scam involving trafficked workers and forced labor. OFAC also designated Cambodia's Garden City Hotel, Koh Kong Resort, and Phnom Penh Hotel as targets of sanctions because these hotels are owned or controlled by Ly.
According to a September 2023 alert issued by the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to U.S. financial institutions and the public, scammers use false identities and complex narratives to establish trust and deceive victims. In many cases, this involves convincing victims to invest in virtual currencies, or sometimes over-the-counter foreign exchange schemes, all in order to defraud them of their funds. These scams are mainly carried out by criminal organizations based in Southeast Asia.
