Virtual Press Briefing with Jeanine Ferris Pirro, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia on U.S. Strike Force

MODERATOR: Greetings from the U.S. Department of State's Asia Pacific Media Hub. It's my pleasure to welcome journalists to today's on-the-record briefing. Today we are honored to be joined by Jeanine Pirro, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.

With that, let's get started. U.S. Attorney Pirro, I'll turn it over to you for your opening remarks.

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Young, I'd like to thank you and the Asia Pacific Media Hub for organizing this, and I am delighted to be able to say good morning to those journalists joining us from the Asian media market. Today, in Washington, D.C., I announced the results of an investigation and the fact that we have filed charges against two individuals as a result of the work of the Scam Center Strike Force that we started in my office in November of 2025.

And of course, as you all know, cyber-enabled and cryptocurrency investment fraud - known by the scammers as "pig butchering" - is among the fastest-growing and most financially devastating form of cybercrime targeting not just Americans but people all over the world. And as a result, our President Trump has issued an executive order to combat cybercrime, fraud, and predatory schemes against our citizens, establishing a clear, whole-of-government strategy to confront cyber-enabled crime and transnational scam operations.

And today we announced significant milestones in that fight. We have charged the Chinese bosses who ran a scam compound in Burma, where thousands were trafficked, enslaved, beaten, and forced to steal from Americans for years. We have seized a Telegram channel that was luring workers into a forced labor compound in Cambodia. They were ordered there to pose as United States banks and even as the NYPD to steal Americans' life savings. And we have taken down more than 500 websites used to steal people's savings. My office is going to continue to work to identify the funds stolen, and we have restrained today more than 700 million in cryptocurrency for our victims.

So the way we started was in November of 2025, we deployed our FBI to Thailand following the takedown of the notorious Chinese-run scam center known as the Shunda compound in Burma. Together with Thai authorities, reams of evidence were reviewed and we seized more than 8,000 phones and 1,500 computers. And they established a hierarchical structure of Chinese bosses running the compound. That evidence, together with reports from victims here in the U.S. and information from providers, led to charges against two Chinese defendants who are managers of the compound.

It's significant that when [the] Shunda-Burma compound was taken down, several of the Chinese transnational organized crime leaders fled to Cambodia to again set up a new compound, showing how intertwined Burma and Cambodia's economies are. The two Chinese nationals who ran the slave labor scam factory in Burma, where they trafficked and tortured people if they didn't deliver on fake crypto investments to steal Americans' life savings, are Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wen Jie. We look forward to prosecuting them in the United States; however, they are presently in Thailand on immigration charges, and just yesterday I met with Thai officials to discuss our common efforts to fight this assault.

Now, compounds do not just scam Americans. They also kidnap and torture people lured by Chinese criminals into fake jobs. As I said, we've obtained a search - a seizure warrant to shut down a Telegram channel with 6,000 followers luring workers from Cambodia to work jobs targeting Americans. We have served this seizure warrant on Telegram and call on Pavel Durov - who's been arrested and indicted in France for managing Telegram's platforms that enable drug-trafficking, fraud, and child porn - to close down this site.

And I want to thank our partners in America who care about this enormous problem enough to make it part of their own agenda: JPMorgan Chase and Microsoft doing parallel investigations on networks running this Telegram channel and taking down accounts that are targeting Americans.

Unfortunately, the workers who responded to those jobs ended up posing as banks, police, and prosecutors. Folks, this is not abstract. It is hitting neighbors, friends, parents, and their retirement accounts. But this is not just economic. This involves human trafficking as well as torture. We have seized the sites and we are coming for the rest. These criminals thought they were untouchable because they are overseas. Today we have proved them wrong, and we're just getting started. Our President has launched a new theater of war against Chinese transnational organized crime.

MODERATOR: Thank you, U.S. Attorney Pirro. We will now turn to the question-and-answer portion of today's briefing. Our first question will be a question that we received in advance from Ravi Velloor, The Straits Times in Singapore, and the question is: "Has the United States detected any movement of scam centers to new parts of Asia? If so, where, and what has the U.S. done to curb them?"

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Well, thank you, Ravi, for that question. We have both seen evidence of scam centers moving within the countries that are a main focus of the strike force - you already know them: Cambodia, Burma, and Laos - as well as other countries in Southeast Asia and other regions. We continue to monitor these developments and work with local authorities of those countries.

The strike force focused on countries where there is a lack of willingness to take down these compounds. So we are now trying to discuss with other countries where we think they might be able to identify and deal with some of these compounds before we make them public.

MODERATOR: Thank you. The next question goes to CCTimes, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I see UM Sorachna, the journalist, is on the line. If you would like me to give you access to the mic, I can let you talk; otherwise, I am happy to read your question. I will allow you to talk in case you would like to pose your question live.

Okay, I will take your silence as not wanting (inaudible). (Inaudible) and challenges in the efforts to investigate this (inaudible)?

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Okay, I think that - I don't think, I know that you're cutting out again, Young, and I think you may want to do something to adjust. But I will continue until you tell me that I'm coming in choppy as you were.

The question: What are the best practices and challenges in the efforts to investigate, disrupt, and prosecute the scam centers in Southeast Asia? Well, first of all, we believe that a collaborative and creative approach are the best. We are deploying all of our tools, focused not just on finding the leaders and prosecuting them, but also looking to disrupt the infrastructure and the network itself. We work with other agencies - Treasury, which can enact sanctions on entities and individuals - as well as working through the State Department with other countries. Finally, we are working with private industry, as I indicated in my introductory remarks, asking them to prioritize the threat and take their own actions against fraud within their system.

There are so many challenges with investigating transnational organized crime, including the sprawling nature of the criminal syndicate. My office has long had a history of prosecuting international defendants and organized crime, and the ability to deploy whatever tools we need. But there is no question that it must be a collaborative approach and not just a prosecutorial one.

Thank you.

MODERATOR: (Inaudible.)

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MODERATOR: Hello. Can you hear me? Mic check.

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Yes, now I can hear you.

MODERATOR: Oh, my goodness. We're very sorry. There was a network issue here across the - across the hub. We all lost - we all lost access for a second. But let me just quickly get back to the question that we were at unless, Judge Pirro, we - unless you've already answered UM Sorachna's question, I will go ahead and read her question.

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Yes, I have.

MODERATOR: You have.

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: I have answered UM's question.

MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you so much for keeping the train moving. Then I will - I will move to the next one, and hopefully we won't have any other technical issues. It seems to be a network-wide issue here in the building.

So the next question comes from our friends in the Philippines, Morexette Erram from Cebu Daily News Digital: "What are the most common types of scams rampant in Southeast Asia, and what countries are considered the hotspots? And we'd also like to know what interventions or assistance the U.S. Government has provided in combatting these scam centers, particularly in the Philippines."

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Okay. The Scam Center Strike Force has seen all different iterations of scams targeting Americans, to include romance scams, law enforcement scams and law enforcement impersonation, investment advice scams, as well as lifestyle influencer scams. There has been an uptick in impersonation scams more recently.

We are mainly focused on Cambodia, Burma, and Laos, as I've indicated, which are the three hotspots, according to most public reporting and as well as the records of social media providers. And as it - as it relates to the Philippines, we have our FBI Legal and DOJ attaché in the Philippines, and we are presently working with their government, I'm pleased to say.

Thank you.

MODERATOR: Great. Next question goes to BBC, Sen Nguyen: "What is your response to allegations that Senate President Hun Sen and his son and PM Hun Manet are (inaudible) from scam centers in their country? Have U.S. intelligence detected any (inaudible) in Vietnam? Thank you."

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Well, thank you, but we are not able to comment on any particular investigation. We do, however, take seriously allegations that public officials are involved in or profiting from scam centers. The strike force is focused on targets organizing and leading these compounds regardless of their political connections.

Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Judge Pirro. We will take a live question just to vary things up. I see our friend Sarah Newey from The Telegraph is on the line. Sarah, would you like to pose your question? I will give you the permission to speak. Please unmute yourself and go ahead, Sarah.

QUESTION: Hi, good morning. Thank you so much for doing this. I just wondered how likely it is that Thailand will extradite the individuals who you mentioned this morning. How - or are you concerned that they might end up in China, which happened to Chen Zhi? How likely are these people going to face justice in America? Thank you.

MODERATOR: I believe you're muted, Judge Pirro.

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: We have an extradition treaty with Thailand, but - and a strong one. And the truth is that they ended up in Thailand on immigration charges. So we continue to pursue and will continue to pursue all of the options available to us to get these individuals into the United States to prosecute them here.

Now, normally we wouldn't identify those individuals until we've brought them here, but we thought that this was important enough to identify them, to let the organizations they're affiliated with know that we are seeking their - to have them extradited to the United States, and that we are serious about these crimes.

Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Ryn - I'm sorry if I mispronounce your last name - Jirenuwat is on the call. And there's also a question in the chat. I will give you the mic, Ryn, so you can go ahead and pose your question live.

QUESTION: Hi, good morning. So this is Ryn from Al Jazeera English. So I would like to know how much of a threat does the U.S. deem these criminals to be, and will more be done to shut them down? And another thing is, what about the role of the Chinese national involved in this scam operation? Thank you very much.

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: The U.S. takes their threat very seriously, as evidenced by President Trump's March 6, 2026 executive order instructing the Department of Justice to prioritize this threat. The Scam Center Strike Force is a first-of-its-kind initiative that I started, and we have our best and our brightest prosecutors, agents, and agencies working on this threat full time. With the implementation of this executive order, the United States will only bring more resources and government agency tools to combat the threat.

Now, Chinese transnational organized crime is, by all reporting and indications, behind the majority of scam center operations in Southeast Asia. The scam economy is funded by organized crime at the expense, unfortunately, of American citizens.

Thank you.

MODERATOR: Great. The next question will go to another journalist who pre-submitted their question from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and they are from Phnom Penh Post - Chheng Niem: "What do you think about branding Cambodia as Scambodia? What is the prevalence of scam activities from Cambodia since July last year until now? Do you see any sign of decrease?"

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Thank you. Cambodia remains a source of focus, and the public reporting is that 40 to 60 percent of Cambodia's GDP is derived from scam revenue. While more recently the Cambodian Government appears to have taken actions against compounds, we are waiting to see whether that will actually change the prevalence of scams in Cambodia.

Thank you.

MODERATOR: Great. Next question goes to May Wong from The Straits Times, Thailand. And May, I see that you are on the line. We will give the permission to talk, so please unmute yourself and pose your question live.

May, I believe you're still muted. I will go ahead and read your question, May. It seems like you might be having some technical difficulties. "What is the prosecution rate over the last year, and what tangible outcomes have resulted from that? Thank you."

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: As I indicated, we have only been going on as a strike force since November of 2025, and already we've publicly charged two Chinese scam bosses. We have more charges on the way, and we are continuing to build cases. I suspect that as we continue to investigate these cases, we will start multiplying them many times over.

MODERATOR: Perfect. The next question goes to Malou Talosig-Bartolome from BusinessMirror, Manila, Philippines: "Were there links to the scam operators in Southeast Asia to online abuse of children using Roblox and other gaming platforms? Also, a crackdown of POGO, Philippines Offshore Gaming Operators, eradicated (inaudible) scamming operations from the Philippines?"

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Thank you for that question. Unfortunately, I'm not able to comment on any particular investigation, but what I can say is that the Department of Justice has staff in the Philippines who are working with the Philippine Government on exactly these types of cases.

MODERATOR: Thank you, ma'am. I see we have not addressed Hpone Myat's question yet. I don't see you on the line, so I will go ahead and read your question. And Hpone Myat is from The Irrawaddy News based here in Thailand, but I believe it is a Burmese outlet. "What actions has the strike force taken so far on scam centers in Myanmar? What are your findings? What will you do next?"

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: (Inaudible) of 2025 we announced several actions taken against the Tai Chang scam compound in Burma, to include seizure of multiple fake investment websites and the designation of the companies and individuals behind that compound. Today, of course, we announced charges against Chinese nationals who are managers at the Shunda scam compound in Burma. Those individuals are in Thai custody as we speak on immigration charges, and we look forward to prosecuting them in the United States.

We also announced today an additional website seizure related to Tai Chang, and the State Department then announced an aware of up to $10 million for information leading to financial seizures related to Tai Chang. And Burma continues also to be a focus for our strike force.

(Interruption.)

U.S. ATTORNEY PIRRO: Hi, everyone. This is the United States Attorney. Young has dropped off. She had indicated earlier in this taping that there were some network difficulties. She will not be able to join us for the rest of this show, so I just wanted to sign off and a final - I have a few final thoughts.

And that is that, number one, we need the assistance of countries in Southeast Asia and the Asian media market to assist us in combatting this horrific scam that is affecting people in Southeast Asia and around the - that area. It is not just the economic harm and damage to Americans alone that is the issue. It is certainly an issue for us, but I value the fact that together we should be able to put our - a united front against those individuals who are essentially kidnapping, torturing, and forcing people into these compounds against their will, taking away from them their ability to be able to reunite with their own families simply because they responded to an ad or a social media request for an employee who was looking for a job.

This is an outrage from where we see it, and I'm sure the way you see it as well. And together I think that we can work to a beneficial conclusion for both your market as well as the American market, and that is to fight these scammers with everything we've got, to join forces collaboratively, and I know that President Trump is interested in doing that. He is making sure that we have the resources at our end to do it, and we look forward to being able to work with other governments in fighting this horrific scam that we have focused our strike force on.

So I want to say thank you and we appreciate your interest in this important topic. Bye.

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