On September 13, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had imposed sanctions on Cambodian businessman Ly Yong Phat (Ly), his business group L.Y.P. Group Co., LTD (L.Y.P. Group), and O-Smach Resort due to their involvement in serious human rights abuses related to online scam centers that involve trafficked workers in forced labor. OFAC also designated Garden City Hotel, Koh Kong Resort, and Phnom Penh Hotel in Cambodia as subject to sanctions because they are owned or controlled by Ly.

According to an advisory issued in September 2023 by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury to U.S. financial institutions and the public, scammers use false identities and complex narratives to build trust and deceive victims. In many cases, this involves convincing victims to invest in cryptocurrency or, at times, offshore foreign exchange schemes, all in an effort to defraud them of their funds. These scams are primarily perpetrated by criminal organizations based in Southeast Asia.