Anti-scam advocates want Starlink’s help fighting ‘scam compounds’ in Asia and beyond

(NEW YORK) — Last July, a prosecutor in California sent a letter to Elon Musk’s SpaceX with an urgent message: The company’s internet satellite dishes are being used by criminal organizations in so-called “scam compounds” across Southeast Asia.

Starlink, which was developed by SpaceX in 2019, provides internet to remote locations, and the company’s satellite systems have been used in war-torn Ukraine, in hospitals in Gaza, and in areas affected by hurricanes.

But over the last several years, according to international officials and intergovernmental organizations, authorities have found Starlink satellite dishes being used in criminally run scam centers, where users perpetrate illegal online schemes to defraud people.

Anti-scam advocates like Erin West, the former deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County, California, have been increasingly calling on companies with links to scam centers to help them locate and dismantle the criminal groups that run scam compounds.

“The thing about Starlink is, it is a satellite, it’s covering specific areas,” said West, who sent the letter to Starlink. “And when we can point out that some of those locations are known scam centers, then I want Starlink to turn off the service.”

West and the Santa Clara DA’s office told ABC News that SpaceX never responded to their letter.

ABC News has previously reported on the growing rise of scam compounds in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America, where hundreds of thousands of people are reported to be trafficked and forced to target people in the U.S. and Europe.

According to the FBI, victims of cryptocurrency scams linked to the compounds reported $3.9 billion in estimated losses in 2023.

A report published by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in October found that Chinese organized crime groups have found ways around “existing security protocols in order to access the remote high-speed internet connectivity made possible” by Starlink’s technology.

“Several recent incidents relating to the use of false base stations and Starlink satellite dishes have been reported by law enforcement authorities in Mekong countries over past years,” the report said.

SpaceX representatives did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

According to officials and the UNODC, online vendors are selling Starlink devices to cyber-enabled fraud operations in remote areas where scam compounds are located.

“In the future, Starlink will reach a transmission capacity of 200G! Come and enjoy a set of Starlink equipment exclusive to you,” said an advertisement posted last week on a Telegram chat that ABC News reviewed.

Benedikt Hofmann, the Deputy Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific for UNODC, who reviewed the Telegram chat, said there are many vendors specifically advertising Starlink access as a “solution for online scam operators” on Telegram-based markets.

Anti-scam groups and intergovernmental organizations have been looking into the Telegram chats as part of their effort to locate and dismantle the scam compounds.

The use of Starlink satellite devices by criminal organizations was first reported by Wired.

Hofmann told ABC News that “Starlink is a growing concern.”

“We’ve seen increasing cases of devices being seized en route to Myanmar, usually coming from other parts of the region where they can be legally purchased,” Hofmann said. “There is a clear link to the scam industry.”