Record bitcoin sum seized in UK-US crackdown on romance scam centres
Authorities have seized $15bn (£11.3bn) worth of bitcoin and a string of luxury London properties in a joint UK-US operation against criminal masterminds behind romance scam hubs in South East Asia.
Bitcoin seized by US investigators is the largest seizure in the history of the Department of Justice.
A multi-million mansion and office block in the City of London is also among 19 properties seized in the UK as two governments sanction a gang operating such fraud centers on an industrial scale.
The network works by luring people into fake romantic relationships online before depriving victims of their savings.
However, the people who commit the fraud are usually foreign nationals who are forced to commit online fraud under the threat of torture.
According to the City of London Police, romance scams cost the UK at least £92 million in the 2023-2024 financial year; some estimates put the total loss at over £100 million.
Last year, there were more than 8,000 reports of romance scams in the UK, with thousands more believed to go unreported.
Scam hubs in Cambodia, Myanmar and the region use fake job postings to lure foreigners into disused casinos or purpose-built sites, where foreigners are forced to commit online fraud under threat of torture.
Scams often involve establishing online relationships to persuade targeted individuals to deposit increasingly larger amounts of money into fake cryptocurrency investment schemes. The proceeds are then laundered using a sophisticated financial ecosystem that includes seemingly legitimate shell businesses and online gambling platforms.
Individuals and groups accused of involvement in the sanctions and targeted include Prince Holding Group, a Cambodia-based multinational conglomerate, and its chairman and founder Chen Zhi.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it charged Chen, also known as “Vincent,” with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for running forced labor fraud compounds across Cambodia.
Authorities said they also seized 127,271 Bitcoins, the proceeds of fraud and the largest loss in Justice Department history.
In the UK, a £12 million mansion on Avenue Road in north London belonging to Chen’s multinational network has been frozen, the Foreign Office said.
Chen and his network of supporters established their business in the British Virgin Islands and invested in the London property market, including a mansion, a £100 million office building in Fenchurch Street in the City of London, and 17 flats in New Oxford Street and Nine Elms in south London.
According to Foreign Office officials, the sanctions will immediately freeze those businesses and properties and keep Chen and his network out of the UK’s financial system.
Prince Group is a high-profile, multi-billion pound conglomerate with extensive business activities in Cambodia and beyond. Chen and Prince Group, which built casinos and sites used as fraud centers, are alleged to have been linked to their activities through corporate proxies and were involved in the laundering of proceeds.
Jin Bei Group, an entertainment and leisure business affiliated with Prince Group, which has a seven-storey flagship hotel and casino in Cambodia’s tourist hub Sihanoukville, as well as several fraud centers, was also affected by the sanctions.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The masterminds behind these horrific fraud centers are ruining the lives of vulnerable people and buying houses in London to hide their money.
“Together with our US allies, we are taking decisive action to combat the growing transnational threat posed by this network – defending human rights, protecting British citizens and keeping dirty money off our streets.”
Detective Constable Gary Miles, of the City of London Police, who is responsible for investigating the scams, previously warned: “Romance scammers rely on the kindness and compassionate nature in us, where this is exploited to their advantage using highly manipulative and coercive techniques. Romance scams can result in people being left with tens of thousands of pounds of their hard-earned savings wiped out in debt and, in some extreme cases, having to rebuild their homes.” They have to mortgage it.”
The new sanctions are coordinated with U.S. sanctions to ensure maximum impact and are imposed following extensive investigations by the State Department and the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Lord Hanson, the fraud minister, said: “Fraudsters are preying on the most vulnerable by stealing their life savings, undermining trust and destroying lives. We will not tolerate this.
“These sanctions prove our determination to stop those profiting from this activity, hold criminals accountable and keep dirty money out of the UK. Through our new, expanded fraud strategy and the upcoming global fraud summit, we will go further to dismantle corruption networks and protect the public from shameless criminals.”
Pamela Bondi, the US attorney general, said: “Today’s action represents one of the most significant attacks yet against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud.”
Independent Tried to contact Mr. Chen and Prince Group for comment.
