AP Investigation Details U.S. AI and Internet Services Used in Myanmar Scam Centers and Company Efforts to Disrupt Them

An investigation by The Associated Press found that American-made AI models ChatGPT and Gemini were used to build specialized scam software that enables work across dozens of languages, worker surveillance and global targeting at compounds in Myanmar.

Safeer Mohammed Koorimannil, who was trafficked to a scam center, impersonated a 28-year-old Singaporean woman named Ella. He said supervisors prowled among desks with electric batons and that on a typical shift he chatted with more than 100 people across dozens of profiles at the same time.

Records he smuggled to the AP showed he targeted some 50,000 victims from at least 17 countries in one month, including a widowed tailor in Kurdistan, a pastry chef in Turkey, a sheep farmer in Kyrgyzstan, soldiers in Iraq, an engineer in Russia, a building painter in Germany, a port officer in Argentina, a student in Indonesia, a security guard in Poland and a dairy farmer in the Republic of Georgia.

Koorimannil spoke to the AP from his home in southern India in his native Malayalam language. He said he was beaten for poor performance, leaving his body red and swollen with lashes, and that photographs document the injuries.

He and his friend each paid 500,000 Indian rupees for their freedom through a Bahrain-based broker who oversaw ransom payments for 21 Indians. The Federal Trade Commission estimates scams cost Americans nearly $200 billion in losses in 2024. Scammers who purchased the AI-powered tools took in tens of millions of dollars, according to blockchain analysis by TRM Labs.

One crypto wallet used by the 007TG platform received $860,000 in payments between April 2024 and December 2025, including transfers from at least four wallets associated with known scam networks. Those scammers raked in at least $75 million. The AP analyzed 202,013 device connections at four Myanmar scam compounds.