The Billion-Dollar Online Scam Machine No One Can Shut Down

The Billion-Dollar Scam Machine No One Can Shut Down

Online fraud in Southeast Asia isn’t fading—it’s evolving, expanding, and making more money than ever, even as world governments declare victory.

A Global Crackdown That Didn’t Stop the Hustle

WASHINGTON — The United States and United Kingdom rolled out one of the largest joint crackdowns in history this week, sanctioning 146 individuals and entities tied to a massive Cambodia-based cybercrime network that has stolen billions from Americans through romance and investment scams.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent celebrated the move as a major win against global fraud. Yet behind the scenes, the criminals don’t sound worried at all.

One insider working with the scam syndicates spoke bluntly. “Business is better than any year in the past,” he said, requesting anonymity. “Maybe not in Myanmar because of the raids, but overall it’s booming. We’ve expanded to Dubai and other places. 2025 will be a great year for cybercrime!”

That simple admission reveals the uncomfortable truth—law enforcement can seize billions, arrest hundreds, and publicly shame kingpins, but the networks keep growing, smarter and richer than ever.

Did you know: Beyond established hubs in countries like Myanmar and Cambodia, "pig-butchering" scam compounds are expanding globally? New operations are emerging across Southeast Asia in places like Laos, the Philippines, and Thailand, with networks also setting up in West Africa, the Middle East, and Central America to evade law enforcement.

A $16 Billion Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight

Americans lost over $16.6 billion to online investment scams in just the last few years. Southeast Asian operations stole more than $10 billion in 2024 alone, a staggering 66 percent jump from the year before.

The latest crackdown focused on the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization, led by Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi. At just 38, he has built a flashy empire mixing luxury hotels, real estate, and banks with brutal fraud compounds that run like factories of deception.

Chen’s network controls at least ten compounds across Cambodia. Many of the workers aren’t criminals—they’re trafficking victims, lured by fake job offers and then forced to run “pig-butchering” scams. The script is carefully designed: build trust over weeks or months, spark romance or friendship, then slowly steer victims into fake crypto platforms before draining their accounts and vanishing.

One FBI operation in 2022 took down a single money laundering ring tied to Chen’s casino network. That group alone stole $18 million from 259 Americans. And that was just one small branch of a much larger machine.

The Human Hell Behind the Screens

The victims aren’t just on the outside. Inside the compounds, trafficked workers live a nightmare. Confiscated passports. Locked dorms. Torture as punishment. Forced labor for 12 to 16 hours a day.

At the Golden Fortune compound near Phnom Penh, residents reported seeing workers “beaten until they are barely alive” after escape attempts. The most infamous complex, Jin Bei Group, has been tied to forced labor, extortion, and the horrific 2023 murder of a 25-year-old Chinese man, Yi Ming Dali.

This isn’t petty scamming—it’s organized crime with the brutality of a cartel and the revenue of a multinational corporation.

Follow the Cash, Find the Empire

In a rare move, the U.S. Treasury cut the Huione Group—Cambodia’s shadowy financial services giant—off from the U.S. financial system. Investigators found Huione laundered at least $4 billion between 2021 and 2025, including money from North Korean hackers and countless online scams.

Chen Zhi’s empire used over 100 shell companies stretching from Mauritius to Taiwan to hide billions. His associates ran operations ranging from Bitcoin mining in Laos to luxury resort deals in Palau.

The Palau project was especially bold. Chen, with help from crime facilitator Rose Wang, secured a 99-year lease on Ngerbelas Island. Wang once introduced notorious mobster Wan Kuok Koi—“Broken Tooth”—to Palau’s president. This is the caliber of company Chen keeps.

The Whack-a-Mole Problem

Governments keep cracking down. The U.S. indicts kingpins. The U.K. sanctions shell companies. China launches raids, like the March 2025 operation that deported 620 people from Myanmar’s Myawaddy scam capital. Chinese courts have even issued death sentences to major fraud bosses.

But there’s a catch—China mostly targets scams hurting Chinese citizens. Once pressure builds, the networks pivot to foreign victims. Americans often become target number one.

Experts call it the “whack-a-mole” effect. You hit one hub, and two more pop up somewhere else. UN reports show scam centers aren’t disappearing—they’re spreading.

A Global Hydra of Cybercrime

Hard numbers paint the clearest picture. Chainalysis estimates crypto scam revenue hit at least $9.9 billion in 2024—and might climb to $12.4 billion. Online scam revenue has grown 24 percent every year since 2020. Pig-butchering scams? Up nearly 40 percent year over year. Deposits into scam platforms skyrocketed 210 percent.

More victims are falling than ever, even if individual losses are slightly smaller.

And the crime is moving. INTERPOL says victims are now trafficked from more than 60 countries. New scam hubs are emerging in West Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America. Analysts say Africa and South America could become the next big scam super-centers.

These fraud empires now operate like Silicon Valley startups—complete with training programs, sales scripts, and profit targets. “Scam-as-a-service” platforms sell everything needed to launch fraud operations. Some even offer AI-generated romance messages and automated grooming tools. The Huione platform that the Treasury just sanctioned had essentially become the Amazon of cybercrime.

What’s Coming Next

“The rapid rise of transnational fraud has cost American citizens billions of dollars, with life savings wiped out in minutes,” Secretary Bessent said Tuesday. “Treasury will continue to lead efforts to safeguard Americans from predatory criminals.”

The sanctions freeze all U.S. assets linked to the 146 targets and ban Americans from doing business with them. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have unsealed criminal charges against Chen Zhi.

That’s a big move. But will it be enough?

History suggests otherwise. When authorities apply pressure to one region, these networks simply relocate. After all, the October 2025 crackdown included a record-smashing $15 billion crypto seizure—yet scam operations kept expanding.

For regular Americans losing everything to romance scams and fake investments, and for trafficking victims trapped in compounds from Cambodia to the Middle East, these actions offer a glimmer of justice.

But the industry itself? It’s never been richer, smarter, or more entrenched.

2025 has brought larger fraud volumes and a wider global footprint for pig-butchering and related online scams, even amid major takedowns and seizures. Our exlusive sources with direct access to scam hubs say the criminal infrastructure hasn’t weakened—it has adapted. We have maintained strong connections to multiple pig-butchering compounds across Southeast Asia, and one small business lead working inside the networks put it bluntly: “The business is better than any year in the past, maybe not in Myanmar because of the government raid, but in general, it is way better. We have also expanded to Dubai and other sites across the world. 2025 will be a great year for the cybercrime industry!”