Cross-pond collaboration
A historic operation mounted by two US federal agencies and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) has dealt a major blow to Southeast Asia’s scam centers.
According to a US Department of the Treasury release on Monday, federal authorities seized $15bn worth of Bitcoin from Chen Zhi, the alleged leader of a major cybercrime network based in Cambodia.
largest financial seizure in the history of the Department of Justice
Officials state the Zhi haul represents the largest financial seizure in the history of the Department of Justice.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi hailed the historic operation that included criminal charges, sanctions, and regulatory measures as “one of the most significant strikes ever against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud.”
Scam center kingpin targeted
According to the DOJ, Zhi is accused of running a Cambodia-based firm that, since 2015, actively constructs, operates, and manages scam centers that rely on human trafficking to perpetuate gambling, dating, and cyber fraud “pig butchering” schemes. Boss of the Prince Group since then, Zhi is accused of masterminding his cybercrime network’s worldwide expansion to “dozens of entities spanning more than 30 countries.”
The Feds accuse Chen of direct involvement in running the scam centers and for acts of violence against people in the forced labor centers. According to the news release, a Chen-linked network in Brooklyn scammed over 250 New Yorkers and others nationwide out of “millions of dollars.”
The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York has subsequently unsealed an indictment against Chen, who remains at large with a potential of 40 years in prison hanging over his head as the FBI hunts down leads on his whereabouts.
UK and US entities also hit the Prince Group’s cybercrime networks with coordinated sanctions.
Hundreds sanctioned
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on 146 people and organizations participating in the Prince Group Transnational Crime Organization. OFAC additionally sanctioned a hydra comprising 117 illegal businesses affiliated with Prince Group.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, meanwhile, issued a rule under the USA Patriot Act to cut the Cambodia-based financial services organization Huione Group from the US financial system.
According to a federal estimate, Americans lost over $10bn last year to Southeast Asia’s scam operations, with US digital investment scams surpassing $16.6bn.
