U.S. President Donald Trump raised the issue of transnational cyber scam compounds with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Michael DeSombre, assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

DeSombre did not say when the conversation took place or what Xi's response was. He told senators that Chinese crackdowns over the past six months "have actually been to some degree very successful in decreasing the amount of scam compounds in Cambodia" as well as Myanmar, driven partly by the gangs targeting Chinese nationals as well as Americans.

More than $12 billion was stolen from Americans last year in cyber scams, much of it by Chinese organized crime groups operating compounds in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. U.S. officials have warned that Chinese law enforcement is targeting gangs that scam Chinese citizens while allowing others to continue operating against Americans, and are seeking to prevent scam bosses from being extradited to China where "we don't have great transparency as to what happens to them," DeSombre said, The Record reports.