The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on 146 targets within the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization, a Cambodia-based network led by Cambodian national Chen Zhi. Simultaneously, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network finalized a rule under section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act to sever the Cambodia-based financial services conglomerate, Huione Group, from the U.S. financial system. The U.K.'s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office also imposed sanctions on Prince Holding Group, Chen Zhi, and his key associates, marking a significant escalation in international pressure.
An indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging Cambodian national Chen Zhi with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for directing Prince Group's operation of forced-labor scam compounds across Cambodia. The U.S. government filed a civil forfeiture complaint against approximately 127,271 Bitcoin, currently worth approximately $15 billion, that are proceeds and instrumentalities of Chen Zhi's fraud and money laundering schemes. This forfeiture action is the largest in the history of the Department of Justice, and the U.S. government seized $15 billion worth of bitcoin from Prince Group's CEO.
The U.K. sanctioned Xinbi, one of the largest illicit marketplaces in Southeast Asia, which provides cryptocurrency-based services to scam centers. Additionally, the U.K. targeted the owners and operators of a facility known as '#8 Park', believed to be Cambodia's largest scam compound, with capacity to accommodate 20,000 trafficked workers. These measures aim to disrupt the financial and operational infrastructure supporting the criminal network.
Huione Group played a central role in laundering billions for Prince Group, with Li Xiong formerly chairing Huione Group, linked to Chen's Prince Group. From August 2021 to January 2025, Huione laundered $4 billion in illicit funds, including $36 million from pig-butchering and $300 million in cyber fraud assets. Elliptic reported Huione Guarantee wallets processed $24 billion in crypto since 2021, making it the largest illicit marketplace.
The scale of the scam industry is immense, with U.S. losses to online investment scams totaling over $16.6 billion, and at least $10 billion lost to Southeast Asia-based scam operations in 2024, a 66% increase over the prior year. The scam industry brings in about $64 billion each year, highlighting its profitability and global reach.
Scam centers are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence tools to scale their operations, increase the sophistication of scams, and evade traditional detection methods. Chinese criminal organizations are moving quickly to stay ahead of crackdowns by embracing advanced technologies and exploiting cryptocurrency to launder stolen assets, showing an evolution in tactics to maintain illicit gains.
New clusters of scam centers are emerging in the Pacific Islands, South Asia, the Middle East, and West Africa. Scam centres have flourished in south-east Asia and now represent a massive illicit industry, with experts saying operators are looking further afield for vulnerable targets. This geographic expansion reflects efforts to exploit regions with weaker law enforcement or regulatory oversight.
In Myanmar, the ruling military junta raided the notorious scam center known as KK Park, confiscating 30 Starlink satellite internet terminals and releasing some 2,000 workers. A Chinese court sentenced 11 members of a mafia family who ran Myanmar scam centers to death. SpaceX disabled 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected 'scam centers' in Myanmar, disrupting their communications.
International law enforcement operations have intensified, with Meta disabling more than 150,000 accounts and Thai police arresting 21 people in a sweeping international crackdown on south-east Asian criminal scam centers. The operation was led by Thailand’s Royal Thai police anti-cyber scam center, alongside the FBI and the U.S. justice department’s scam center strike force, with Meta investigators acting on intelligence shared in real time by law enforcement.
Chinese criminals are returning home and opening smaller-scale scam operations inside China that exclusively target foreigners, known as 'foreigner butchering'. Chinese authorities repatriated Li Xiong, a senior associate of alleged crime boss Chen Zhi, from Cambodia to intensify the crackdown on networks involved in online gambling, fraud, and money laundering in Southeast Asia, indicating shifts in criminal strategies.
Timor-Leste is becoming a new target for scam syndicates, with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warning that East Timor has become the latest hotspot for scam centre operations. A raid on an Oecusse hotel produced SIM cards and Starlink satellite devices that match a pattern of activity found in scam centres across Southeast Asia. 30 workers from Indonesia, Malaysia and China were arrested at the scene in Oecusse, highlighting the international scope of these operations.
An investigation by the Guardian and Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project focused on the AB Digital Technology Resort in Timor-Leste, uncovering an alleged connection between three individuals involved with the resort project and the Cambodia-based Prince Group, accused of money laundering and fraud through scams reliant on human trafficking, slavery, and violence. The investigation involved scrutinising corporate records, official documents, flight manifests, text messages, and photographs. However, the AB network is not accused of criminality, and the three individuals have since been removed from the project, with no allegation that the project received Prince Group funds. The current status of the AB Digital Technology Resort project remains unclear, as the resort announcement on the AB website has now been taken offline, and details were removed as key players were approached.
Last year, the UN issued a warning about the risk of unnamed scam networks infiltrating Timor-Leste, underscoring the vulnerabilities in emerging regions. The extent of scam network infiltration into Timor-Leste and other new regions is not fully known, with questions remaining about the identity of a foreign national granted a diplomatic passport involved in the resort project and the specific evidence linking the AB resort project to criminal activities beyond alleged connections.
The Isle of Man has brought in new sanctions as part of an international crackdown on a criminal network linked to large-scale online fraud and human trafficking. Last year's UK sanctions triggered a wave of investigations and arrests across the region and freezes and seizures of assets worth over £1 billion, indicating the broader impact of these measures.