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The United States imposed a new round of sanctions on Cambodia’s Prince Group network, targeting nine individuals and 26 companies over alleged involvement in cyber scams, forced labor, human trafficking, and human rights abuses tied to scam compounds in Southeast Asia. Treasury identified Hu Xiaowei, described as Prince Group’s second-in-command, along with figures including Chen Bo, Brendon Luo, Qiu Wei Ren, and Fang Zhizhen, and entities such as CCU Commercial Bank PLC and White Horse Hotel Management Group. U.S. officials said the operations lured workers with fake job offers, confiscated passports, and coerced victims through debt bondage, violence, and threats into running online fraud schemes, including digital-asset investment scams that contributed to at least $10 billion in losses to Americans in 2024.
The Justice Department also seized a cloud computing account used as backend infrastructure by subsidiaries of Cambodia-based Huione Group, which authorities described as a major criminal marketplace and laundering hub linked to scam centers and cyber-enabled theft. Officials said the infrastructure supported Huione Guarantee or Haowang Guarantee, which allegedly facilitated money laundering, stolen-data sales, malware-enabled theft, cryptocurrency escrow services, and other criminal activity. The enforcement action came as Japanese police arrested Hu Xiaowei in Osaka on suspicion of filing a fraudulent address change while living under the Cypriot identity "Hu Shi" and seeking permanent residency, adding to mounting international pressure on Prince Group and associated networks, which have denied the allegations and said their businesses are legitimate.
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OCCRP reported that U.S. lawmakers are advancing bipartisan legislation to create a task force targeting criminal syndicates behind global online scams, with Cambodia highlighted as a major scam hub. The article says an earlier draft named Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sar Sokha among potential targets, but that list was removed in the latest version as Sokha retained U.S. legal and lobbying representation.
The U.S. Justice Department announced the seizure of a cloud computing account used as backend infrastructure by subsidiaries of Cambodia-based Huione Group. Authorities said the infrastructure supported Huione Guarantee/Haowang Guarantee, which allegedly facilitated cyber scams, money laundering, stolen data sales, malware-enabled theft, human trafficking schemes, and cryptocurrency escrow services.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against nine individuals and 26 companies linked to Cambodia's Prince Group, citing cyber scams, forced labor, and human rights abuses tied to scam compounds in Southeast Asia. The action expanded targeting of Hu Xiaowei and included entities such as CCU Commercial Bank PLC and White Horse Hotel Management Group.
Japanese police arrested Hu Xiaowei in Osaka on suspicion of filing a fraudulent change-of-address notification, alleging he was living in Japan under the Cypriot identity "Hu Shi." Authorities described him as an associate of Cambodia-based Prince Group.
OCCRP reports that Prince Group was sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea at the end of the previous year. Several jurisdictions also froze assets linked to the group.
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The European Union imposed sanctions on seven individuals and three entities in Cambodia and Myanmar over alleged roles in industrial-scale online scam operations and related human rights abuses. The measures target **Prince Holding Group** and its chairman **Chen Zhi**, **Jin Bei Group** and chairman **Zhu Zhongbiao**, and Myanmar’s **Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA)** and several senior figures. According to the EU, the sanctioned actors facilitated or operated scam compounds tied to romance-investment and cryptocurrency fraud, particularly in hubs such as **Sihanoukville** in Cambodia and **Myawaddy** near the Thailand border. EU officials said the sanctions respond not only to cyber-enabled fraud but also to trafficking, forced labor, torture, and abuse inside scam centers where workers were allegedly coerced into running criminal schemes. The restrictions include **asset freezes** and **travel bans**, and follow earlier U.S. sanctions against people and companies allegedly associated with Prince Group. Prince Group has denied the allegations, calling them unfounded, but the EU said the action is intended to disrupt the networks, protect victims, and hold those enabling the compounds accountable.
Jul 31, 2026
The U.S. Department of Justice, in collaboration with federal law enforcement and interagency partners, has intensified efforts to combat large-scale cryptocurrency-enabled fraud originating from Southeast Asia. This includes the creation of the Scam Center Strike Force, which targets scam compounds that use forced labor to perpetrate investment fraud, and the designation of groups such as the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and companies like Trans Asia and Troth Star for their roles in these operations. The U.S. government estimates that Americans lost at least $10 billion to such scams in 2024, a significant increase from previous years, and has already seized over $401 million in cryptocurrency assets, with further forfeiture actions underway. A notable case in this crackdown involves the Prince Group, led by Chen Zhi, which operated forced-labor scam compounds in Cambodia. The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Chen Zhi for wire fraud and money laundering, and filed a civil forfeiture complaint for approximately 127,271 Bitcoin—proceeds from these illicit activities. The Chinese National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) has alleged that the U.S. may have acquired these bitcoins from a 2020 attack on the LuBian bitcoin mining pool, raising geopolitical tensions. The Prince Group action is seen as a landmark in the ongoing U.S. campaign to disrupt the infrastructure behind Southeast Asian pig butchering scams and related cybercrime.
Jul 12, 2026
Chen Zhi, the founder and chairman of the Prince Group conglomerate, was arrested in Cambodia and extradited to China following a joint investigation by Cambodian and Chinese authorities. U.S. prosecutors allege that Chen orchestrated a massive crypto fraud network involving forced-labor scam compounds in Cambodia, which generated billions of dollars through cryptocurrency investment and romance scams. The U.S. Department of Justice previously filed its largest-ever forfeiture action, seizing billions in bitcoin allegedly linked to Chen's operations, while the U.K. and other jurisdictions have confiscated properties associated with the Prince Group. The arrest and extradition of Chen Zhi, along with two associates, marks a significant law enforcement action against Southeast Asia’s extensive cyber scam industry. In October, Chen and 128 entities linked to him were sanctioned by the U.S. and U.K., and authorities in Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong have also seized assets connected to the group. The Prince Group’s operations, which spanned real estate, banking, entertainment, and airlines, are now under intense international scrutiny for their alleged role in orchestrating large-scale online fraud and human trafficking for scam operations.
Jun 29, 2026