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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.
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The European Union announced sanctions against seven individuals and three entities in Cambodia and Myanmar tied to scam compounds and related human rights abuses. The measures included asset freezes and travel bans targeting Prince Holding Group and Chen Zhi, Jin Bei Group and Zhu Zhongbiao, and Myanmar's DKBA and senior figures.
The OCCRP reference says sweeping U.S. sanctions were announced nearly a month before the EU action against individuals and companies said to be associated with Cambodia's Prince Group.
After being targeted by the EU sanctions, Prince Group denied the allegations, calling them wild and unfounded.
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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.
Jun 29, 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, 2026The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on 19 entities and individuals in Myanmar and Cambodia for operating large-scale cyber scam centers. These operations, linked to the Karen National Army and organized crime groups, have stolen over $10 billion from Americans in 2024 and are notorious for using forced labor and human trafficking. The sanctions block these entities from the U.S. financial system and aim to disrupt their operations and financial networks.
Jun 29, 2026