The UK has imposed sanctions on assets linked to a network of scam centers in Southeast Asia. London properties including a £9 million penthouse have been frozen under a crypto scam crackdown. The £9 million property is owned by Thet Li, a key lieutenant of Chen Zhi who has managed the Prince Group’s international financial network, including in Taiwan. Another property frozen is a 6-bed mansion next to Hampstead Heath, worth approximately £8.5 million, owned by Wang Xiaoyan, the wife of Zhu Zhongbiao. The UK sanctioned owners and operators of '#8 Park', believed to be Cambodia's largest scam compound with capacity for 20,000 trafficked workers.
Across Southeast Asia, industrial-scale fraud compounds are stealing billions from victims every year using trafficked workers forced to run online scams. Scam centers lure people into fake romantic relationships to defraud them. Pig-butchering scams involve building trust slowly ('fattening the pig') and convincing victims to invest through fake crypto platforms that vanish when withdrawal is attempted. According to the FBI's 2024 Internet Crime Report, Americans lost more than USD 9 billion to online investment fraud last year. According to TRM, since 2023, more than USD 53 billion in crypto-related scams and fraud has been tracked globally, with research suggesting only 15-20% of victims report losses.
Last year, the UK, in coordination with the US, announced sanctions against the Prince Group and its Chairman Chen Zhi, triggering a wave of investigations, arrests, and asset freezes and seizures worth over £1 billion. Chen Zhi, a Chinese-Cambodian tycoon, was indicted for wire fraud, money laundering, and operating forced-labour scam compounds across Cambodia. Through his company, Prince Group, Chen Zhi is said to have built casinos and compounds used as scam centers, and laundered the proceeds. Chen Zhi was sanctioned in October.
Those conducting the scams are often trafficked foreign nationals, who are lured into purpose-built scam compounds with promises of legitimate jobs, then trapped and forced to carry out online fraud under threat of torture. The UK government states '#8 Park' in Cambodia has capacity for 20,000 trafficked workers.
On November 12, 2025, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia announced the launch of the Scam Center Strike Force to dismantle transnational criminal networks behind 'pig butchering' scams. The US Treasury sanctioned 19 targets across Southeast Asia, dismantling cyber scam operations that bilked Americans out of more than $10 billion in 2024 alone, a 66% increase from the previous year. OFAC designated nine entities in Burma's Shwe Kokko hub and ten in Cambodia, linked to pig butchering schemes using forced labor and violence. OFAC sanctioned the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and its senior leaders for running and protecting cyber scam compounds in Burma targeting Americans.
Thet Li and Hu Xiaowei have been added to the UK sanctions list. The targeted businesses are Chinese-language online marketplace Xinbi, for its role providing cryptocurrency-based services to scam centers including #8 Park, and Legend Innovation Co, which operates #8 Park. OFAC also sanctioned Trans Asia International Holding Group Thailand, Troth Star Company Limited, and Thai national Chamu Sawang, tied to Chinese organized crime networks funding scam centers. The UK sanctioned a cryptocurrency-based marketplace (Xinbi) that sells stolen personal data to fraudsters and provides satellite internet equipment to scam centers.
Cambodia was labelled a 'state sponsor' of human trafficking by the US State Department due to allegations senior officials benefited from scam center revenue. A Humanity Research Consultancy report linked Cambodia's ruling elite to a $19 billion crypto-fueled scam industry, while a UN report warned of expansion to Africa and the Middle East.
A bill (the Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates Act) was introduced in the US Congress to create an anti-scam taskforce targeting syndicates said to be holding 150,000 people and stealing up to $19 billion a year. Meta introduced new protective tools including Facebook alerts for suspicious friend requests and a WhatsApp warning system for fraudulent device-linking attempts. Meta disabled over 150,000 accounts and Thai police arrested 21 people in a crackdown on scam centers, with cooperation from the FBI, US justice department, and international agencies. A pilot action in December yielded removal of 59,000 accounts from Meta's platforms and six arrest warrants, followed by an operation that more than doubled the account tally.
Previous measures have led to assets including a £100 million office block in the City of London, two multimillion-pound mansions and a helicopter being frozen. The US Department of Justice filed its largest-ever forfeiture action to seize approximately $15 billion worth of bitcoin and properties worth $172 million in Britain.
Zhu Zhongbiao is a director of multiple companies linked to scam centers as well as to the Prince Group.
The UNODC has documented cyber-fraud compounds in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines, many connected to organized crime syndicates with Chinese leadership, generating tens of billions annually. Scam compounds operate in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos, using fake romantic relationships and crypto investments to steal billions globally.
The international response faces significant challenges in recovering stolen funds and assessing the effectiveness of sanctions. Key unknowns persist, including how many individuals have been successfully rescued from these scam compounds to date. The current status of legal proceedings against Chen Zhi and other key figures like She Zhijiang remains unclear. Specific measures to prevent the expansion of scam operations to Africa and the Middle East, as warned by a UN report, have not been detailed.