U.S. authorities have taken down a website tied to a major crypto fraud ring operating out of Burma, in the latest effort to curb the rapid expansion of online investment scams across Southeast Asia.
The seized domain — tickmilleas.com — disguised itself as a legitimate crypto trading platform but was actually run from the Tai Chang compound, also known as Casino Kosai, located in Kyaukhat, Burma. The U.S. Justice Department announced the domain seizure on Dec. 2, noting the website was built to lure unsuspecting investors into depositing funds that never truly existed.
Scam center disguised as an investment firm
According to the DOJ’s affidavit, the platform replicated the look and feel of a real trading environment. It offered dashboards, “profit” figures, and fake deposit records — all designed to convince victims that their investments were growing. The illusion often went further, with users being instructed to download malicious apps from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Those mobile apps were later removed after the FBI alerted the companies.
The DOJ revealed that the website was registered only in early November 2025, yet victims had already fallen prey to the scheme within weeks, losing their digital assets in the process.
This takedown follows two additional domain seizures earlier in the week, all linked to the same scam operation.
Ties to sanctioned criminal organizations
Tai Chang was discovered to have direct connections to sanctioned entities including the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and Trans Asia International Holding Group. Both were recently added to the U.S. Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals list due to their reported links to Chinese organized crime and involvement in building scam compounds across Southeast Asia.
In its announcement, the DOJ emphasized that shutting down the domain is part of a broader initiative led by the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office Scam Center Strike Force, which targets the infrastructure supporting international crypto fraud.
Meta also played a role in the crackdown by removing more than 2,000 related social media accounts, based on evidence shared by the FBI.
Growing hotspot for crypto fraud
Scam compounds have become a disturbing trend in the region — large complexes controlled by transnational criminal networks where trafficked or coerced workers are forced to run online fraud operations. Crypto scams, including “pig butchering” schemes, are among the most profitable.
Southeast Asian nations such as Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam remain major hotbeds for these crimes, and global law enforcement agencies are increasing efforts to shut them down.
In October, U.S. officials executed one of the largest financial seizures in history — over $14 billion in Bitcoin — in a strike against Cambodia’s Prince Group. Its leader, Chinese-Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi, was indicted for allegedly operating vast scam networks in the region.
Burma, specifically, has witnessed a sharp surge in digital asset fraud. Chainalysis data previously linked the KK Park compound in Myawaddy to nearly $100 million in stolen crypto through romance scams alone.
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