A Cambodian “pig butchering” scam ring has been relieved of $15 billion in Bitcoin courtesy of the Department of Justice, according to a DOJ press release issued on Tuesday. The scam’s alleged ringleader, UK and Cambodian national Chen Zhi, has also been indicted for his role in the scam, though he remains at large. Prosecutors say that the scam ring relied on human trafficking and violence to maintain its operations, and that it stole billions of dollars from people all over the world since 2015.
In a 68-page indictment unsealed on Tuesday in a Brooklyn federal court, prosecutors accused Zhi and his associates of running a massive “phone farm” that operated 1,250 mobile phones, which controlled more than 76,000 social media accounts around the clock. The group reportedly also ran 10 “violent forced labor camps” across Cambodia, where human trafficking victims were coerced into stealing Bitcoin from unsuspecting victims. According to prosecutors, the people who worked in these camps were migrant workers who traveled to Cambodia in search of work but were instead trafficked and forced to work in these industrial scam compounds.
The indictment reads like something you might see on TV or in a Hollywood movie, and government officials said it’s the largest forfeiture action in the history of the Department of Justice.
A picture of a phone farm with 1,250 mobile devices appeared in the indictment.
Credit: Department of Justice
For the uninitiated, a pig butchering scam works in two steps. The scammer creates a relationship with the victim, either through a traditional romance scam or some other means. Once the metaphorical “pig” has been “fattened,” the scammer will make their move and manipulate the victim into sending Bitcoin, often under the guise of a phony investment opportunity. Some victims will liquidate their entire life savings.
What are pig butchering scams? How to protect yourself from online con artists.
“Today’s action represents one of the most significant strikes ever against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a press release. “By dismantling a criminal empire built on forced labor and deception, we are sending a clear message that the United States will use every tool at its disposal to defend victims, recover stolen assets, and bring to justice those who exploit the vulnerable for profit. We are grateful for the hard work of Director Patel and the men and women of the FBI.”
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International pig butchering rings, often located in Southeast Asia, operate massive phone farms and call centers to enact scams at an industrial scale. In Cambodia alone, the scam industry steals $12.5 to $19 billion annually, per the indictment. However, prosecutors said the accused scammers didn’t just steal money. Prosecutors said they also used violence to “further their criminal schemes,” and the indictment contains bloody images of alleged victims of the gang’s activities.
The indictment accused Zhi and his associates of bribing officials to stay ahead of law enforcement raids. One section of the indictment detailed how Zhi and his co-conspirators allegedly hunted down an associate who fled with stolen money, leveraging contacts in the government and mob to locate the thief.
Zhi is publicly known as the leader of the Prince Group, a multinational corporation that does business in over 30 countries. The group was “ostensibly focused” on real estate development and financial services, but the DOJ alleged it provided cover for the sophisticated scam operation. The indictment describes how Zhi and Prince Group executives allegedly used their ill-gotten gains to buy mansions, luxury yachts, expensive watches, private jets, and even rare artwork, “including a Picasso painting purchased through an auction house in New York.”
The gang’s operations even took place on U.S. soil, prosecutors claimed. The group reportedly used shell companies and financial institutions located in Brooklyn and Queens, New York to facilitate their schemes and defraud U.S. victims.
If located, arrested, and convicted, Zhi faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering. Zhi is currently at large, with a sizable amount of his assets in the DOJ’s hands. According to a U.S. Treasury Department press release, the Treasury and the UK’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) have also imposed sweeping sanctions against the Prince Group.
In total, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Justice Department National Security Division filed a civil forfeiture complaint for 127,271 Bitcoin, worth an estimated $15 billion.
