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U.S. Moves to Seize Record $12B in Bitcoin from Global ‘Pig Butchering’ Scam After Joint Crackdown

The United States has introduced the largest-ever cryptocurrency seizure tied to worldwide on-line scams, in a sweeping crackdown that exposes an enormous international fraud and human trafficking community.

Federal prosecutors and monetary regulators revealed coordinated actions between the Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Treasury, and authorities in the United Kingdom, focusing on a Cambodia-based conglomerate often known as Prince Holding Group and its chairman, Chen Zhi, also referred to as Vincent.

Court filings unsealed in the Eastern District of New York reveal that U.S. authorities are searching for the forfeiture of 127,000 Bitcoin held in wallets tied to Chen and his associates.

The DOJ described the community as one of the refined transnational rip-off operations in Asia, with billions laundered by shell firms, mining operations, and crypto exchanges worldwide.

Background: How a Cambodian Conglomerate Became a Global Crypto Fraud Empire

Chen, 38, a Chinese-born businessman who renounced his citizenship years in the past, based Prince Holding Group in 2015.

Officially, the agency operated in actual property, finance, and hospitality throughout greater than 30 nations, however prosecutors say it developed right into a prison enterprise constructed on deception and coercion.

According to courtroom paperwork, Prince Holding Group lured 1000’s of staff to Cambodia with false job affords, solely to entice them in closely guarded compounds.

Inside, victims had been compelled to function “pig butchering” scams, a type of long-term on-line fraud in which targets are groomed over time earlier than being tricked into investing in pretend crypto buying and selling platforms.

Once victims deposited funds, the websites vanished. U.S. prosecutors say the funds from these schemes had been laundered by an intricate net of greater than 100 shell and holding firms worldwide.

From there, proceeds had been routed by crypto exchanges and mining operations, ultimately transformed into Bitcoin, and saved in personal wallets managed by Chen and his associates.

Between May 2021 and August 2022, investigators traced a minimum of $18 million from over 250 U.S. victims by shell entities working in Brooklyn and Queens.

Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury

The DOJ stated these funds had been only a fraction of the broader international operation, which channeled billions in stolen property again to Cambodia.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) concurrently introduced sanctions towards 146 individuals and entities tied to Prince Group, labeling the community a transnational prison group engaged in fraud, extortion, and human trafficking.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) also targeted the Cambodia-based Huione Group, accusing it of laundering a minimum of $4 billion in illicit proceeds, together with funds from North Korea-linked cyber heists.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the measures characterize a decisive step in addressing a surge in on-line funding scams which have resulted in over $16 billion in complete losses for Americans.

He described the coordinated actions as “a world response to a world crime,” emphasizing the function of cross-border intelligence sharing and joint enforcement with the U.Ok., which additionally imposed sanctions on Chen and a number of other Prince Holding Group associates.

Prince Holding Group’s operations reportedly prolonged throughout a number of compounds in Cambodia, together with these working below names resembling Jin Bei Casino and Golden Fortune Resorts.

U.S. officers stated these websites had been related to compelled labor, extortion, and even homicide, with trafficked staff made to run high-volume scams below fixed surveillance and abuse.

The investigation additionally sheds gentle on a rising intersection between human exploitation and cryptocurrency-based fraud in Southeast Asia.

Human rights organizations have lengthy warned about compelled labor compounds throughout the area, the place victims are trapped in rip-off operations focusing on international traders.

The Billion-Dollar Pig-Butchering War Goes Global: What Happened?

The newest crackdown builds on a sequence of world enforcement efforts to fight “pig butchering” scams, named after the tactic of “fattening up” victims by belief earlier than defrauding them.

In August, stablecoin issuer Tether froze nearly $50 million in USDT related to a Southeast Asia-based ring, working with Chainalysis, Binance, OKX, and native regulation enforcement.

That operation followed a 2023 case in which $225 million in USDT was seized in coordination with the U.S. Secret Service, then the biggest crypto restoration in the company’s historical past.

Crypto firms have more and more joined in these efforts. Binance recently joined T3+, a world anti-crime alliance launched by TRON, Tether, and TRM Labs, which has frozen greater than $250 million in illicit property.

Its first joint success recovered $6 million linked to one other pig-butchering rip-off. Coinbase has also assisted in tracing stolen funds tied to worldwide trafficking networks.

According to U.S. information, losses from pig-butchering scams surged to $3.6 billion in 2024, a 40% improve from the earlier 12 months.

Authorities say the networks are rising extra refined, mixing crypto fraud, organized crime, and human trafficking at an unprecedented scale.

The put up U.S. Moves to Seize Record $12B in Bitcoin from Global ‘Pig Butchering’ Scam After Joint Crackdown appeared first on Cryptonews.

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