The United States has imposed sanctions on dozens of companies and individuals linked to an alleged Cambodia-based cyberscam group and a network in Madagascar that targeted Americans.<\/p>\n
The US Treasury Department announced sanctions on Thursday on four people and 41 companies tied to the Prince Group, a Cambodian firm accused of running a billion-dollar scam operation.<\/p>\n
The Southeast Asian country has emerged as a hub for crime syndicates running fake romantic relationship and cryptocurrency investment schemes in which scammers — some willing, others trafficked — defraud internet users around the world.<\/p>\n
But under pressure from several countries including the United States, Britain and China, Cambodian authorities say they are cracking down on the industry.<\/p>\n
The four newly sanctioned individuals include Qiu Yong, a senior Prince Group official who allegedly ran multiple companies in the British Virgin Islands that control a network of Hong Kong firms “involved in money lending and other business ventures”, the Treasury said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Qiu, who has passports from Cambodia, St. Lucia and Turkey, helped Prince Group launder its funds through an array of money-lending services and business ventures like wine companies, it said.<\/p>\n
– ‘Safe haven’ for cyberscams –<\/p>\n
Prince Group’s China-born founder Chen Zhi was extradited by Phnom Penh to China in January, months after the conglomerate was sanctioned by the US and UK governments for scamming.<\/p>\n
Cambodian authorities have said he is among at least six Prince Group ringleaders arrested, while casinos, buildings and other real estate valued at nearly $1 billion have been frozen.<\/p>\n
The Prince Group has previously denied any involvement in cyberscams.<\/p>\n
The US Treasury also sanctioned Malaysian Chui Kok Wa for his alleged role as the leader of a scam network in the African island nation of Madagascar.<\/p>\n
The scammers led by Chui exploited cyber-enabled technologies, including cryptocurrencies, “to defraud numerous Americans of over $400,000 equivalent,” the Treasury said.<\/p>\n
Cambodian leader Hun Manet told an anti-fraud summit in September that his country would never be a “safe haven” for cyberscams, but analysts say elite protection networks and the industry’s financial and physical infrastructure remain intact.<\/p>\n
“Cyberscam syndicates continue to steal billions of dollars from American victims,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Thursday’s statement.<\/p>\n
He said his department is “committed to dismantling every layer of these organisations — from their leadership to the corporate structures and financial facilitators that enable them to operate with impunity”.<\/p>\n
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