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The joint action against an online fraud network operating across Southeast Asia represents a new approach to tackling online and telecommunications scams and may pave the way for greater cross-border cooperation.

The  targets individuals and organisations accused of running large-scale scam operations, including links to human trafficking and torture.

These include Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi and his conglomerate Prince Group, along with affiliated companies allegedly involved in building and operating scam compounds and laundering proceeds through offshore structures and high-value property investments in London.

The UK government reports that the network has defrauded victims worldwide through sophisticated online scams, including fake investment and romance schemes. 

Many individuals involved in the fraud are believed to be trafficked workers, coerced into conducting scams under threat of violence in compounds across Cambodia, Myanmar, and neighbouring countries.

“The masterminds behind these horrific scam centres are ruining the lives of vulnerable people and buying up London homes to store their money,” said Yvette Cooper, the UK’s foreign secretary.

Extensive fraud networks

As part of the measures, the UK has frozen assets linked to Chen and his associates. The sanctions also bar any UK individuals or businesses from engaging in financial dealings with the designated persons or entities.

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced  following a joint investigation with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), highlighting transatlantic collaboration against online fraud. 

Officials stated that the coordinated action aims to dismantle the financial and logistical networks behind the scams, which have allegedly defrauded victims of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Those designated include a mix of companies and individuals integral to the scam infrastructure:

• Prince Group and its chairman Chen Zhi, accused of using casinos and compounds for scam operations and laundering proceeds via front companies and property investment.
• Jin Bei Group, a leisure and hospitality operator linked to Prince Group, with properties in Sihanoukville reportedly used as scam centres.
• Golden Fortune Resorts World Ltd., the developer of a compound on the outskirts of Phnom Penh allegedly disguised as a technology park.
• Byex Exchange, a cryptocurrency platform used to transfer and conceal illicit funds.

The scam compounds are said to recruit foreign nationals using fake job adverts, before forcing them to conduct online fraud under threat of torture. 

Many of the scams target individuals through social media and messaging apps, using methods such as “pig butchering” (long-term romance or investment scams) to lure victims into fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. 

The proceeds are then laundered through a complex web of front businesses, gambling platforms and digital exchanges, making detection and recovery challenging.

The sanctions are intended to freeze the assets of those involved, block access to the UK financial system and send a signal that the UK will not tolerate the use of its markets for the proceeds of exploitation and organised fraud.

“Fraudsters prey on the most vulnerable by stealing life savings, ruining trust, and devastating lives. We will not tolerate this,” said the UK’s fraud minister, Lord Hanson.

“These sanctions prove our determination to stop those who profit from this activity, hold offenders accountable, and keep dirty money out of the UK,” he added. 

“Through our new, expanded Fraud Strategy and the upcoming Global Fraud Summit, we will go even further to disrupt corrupt networks and protect the public from shameless criminals.”

A novel approach

The joint UK–US sanctions represent a new approach to tackling online and telecommunications scams by targeting the underlying criminal infrastructure rather than just the outward effects of their actions. 

Previous anti-fraud efforts in the UK have focused on blocking payments, improving reimbursement or raising consumer awareness. This approach instead strikes directly at the organised crime networks that run large-scale scam operations, using sanctions to freeze assets, shut down shell companies and disrupt the financial flows that sustain them.

By designating these networks as transnational organised crime and modern slavery operations, the UK and US are positioning scams as a transnational security issue, rather than solely a consumer protection matter. 

This opens avenues for enhanced cross-border cooperation, intelligence sharing and the application of sanctions tools traditionally used for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) efforts.

Targeting entities such as Byex Exchange and front companies linked to the Prince and Jin Bei groups also disrupts the money laundering channels that convert stolen funds into usable assets. 

This makes it harder for criminals to move or disguise the proceeds of authorised push payment (APP) fraud and strengthens financial institutions’ ability to detect and block fraudulent transfers earlier.

Freezing luxury London properties and other investments also sends a strong deterrent signal that the UK will not serve as a safe haven for proceeds of online crime. By cutting off access to UK and US financial systems and exposing those behind the scams, the action raises the cost and risk of running such operations.

This action could go some way to reducing the volume of scams that lead to APP fraud, while improving recovery and intelligence capabilities across borders.

It could inspire other jurisdictions grappling with fraud issues, such as the EU, Australia and Singapore, to adopt similar strategies against APP fraud and organised scam networks.