Scam centres in Myanmar blamed for swindling billions from victims across the world are expanding fast just months after a crackdown that was supposed to eradicate them, an AFP investigation has found.

New buildings have been springing up inside the heavily guarded compounds around Myawaddy on the Thailand-Myanmar border at a dizzying pace, with others festooned with dishes for Elon Musk's Starlink internet service, satellite images and AFP drone footage show.

The revelations come as Britain and the United States imposed sanctions Tuesday on the "masterminds behind industrial-scale scam centres in Southeast Asia", freezing 19 London properties "linked to a multi-billion-pound network".

They include a mansion worth GBP12 million (nearly $16 million) on one of London's most expensive streets and a GBP100 million office building in the city's financial district.

US prosecutors have also launched an action to seize up to $15 billion in cryptocurrency they said is held by Chinese-born Chen Zhi, the alleged head of a "sprawling cyber-fraud empire" based in Cambodia where workers are trafficked and "confined in prison-like compounds".

Americans are among the top targets of Southeast Asia scammers, the US Treasury........

© International Business Times