The U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on a Myanmar militia group for alleged Crypto Assets fraud.

On May 6, according to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on May 5 that it has added Myanmar's Karen National Liberation Army and its leader Saw Chit Thu along with his two sons to the sanctions list, accusing the organization of operating a form of crypto assets scam known as "Pig-butchering scams", human trafficking, and cross-border smuggling activities. The announcement stated that these scams have led to "billions of dollars in cumulative losses" for U.S. citizens, but did not disclose the specific amount. The organization built trust through social media, luring victims into fake crypto projects, with Southeast Asia becoming a hotspot for such scams. Blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs reported that in 2023, the global amount involved in "Pig-butchering scams" exceeded $4.4 billion. FBI data indicates that in 2024, losses from crypto assets scams in the U.S. reached $9.3 billion (a year-on-year increase of 66%), with the over 60 age group being the hardest hit (with cumulative losses of $2.8 billion).