Agency official says FBI-led effort disrupted overseas scam centers, cites $8 billion recovered

An agency official said the Federal Bureau of Investigation has led operations against overseas scam centers that have "fleeced Americans of billions of dollars," and asserted that U.S. enforcement efforts recovered about $8 billion in fraud over the past year.

The official told the meeting that the FBI "led that charge against scam center compounds stood up in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, freeing thousands of trafficked workers," and said the work has involved interagency and international partners.

The account tied many of the scam centers to foreign actors, with the speaker stating that they were "set up by the CCP and other adversaries in places like Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia and the Middle East." The official also cited a recent operation in Dubai, saying, "Just the other week in the Middle East, in Dubai, we arrested 300 individuals responsible for $4 billion in fraud." The official added that perpetrators "prey on our senior citizens here from overseas."

The speaker framed the effort as a high-priority initiative, saying, "this administration has made it abundantly clear there is no distance we won't travel to make sure we apprehend each and every one of these individuals." The statement referenced a "Fraud Initiative" and attributed the recoveries to actions taken "under the Trump and Vance administration" in the last year.

The meeting record contains these claims as statements by the agency official; the official did not provide supporting documents in the session itself. No motions, votes, or formal actions were recorded in the transcript.