US Sanctions Online Scammers Who Stole Billions From Victims

The Trump administration sanctioned more than a hundred companies and individuals in Southeast Asia linked to online investment scams that have fleeced US victims of billions of dollars in recent years.

The Treasury Department — in collaboration with the UK — imposed sanctions Tuesday on entities linked to Cambodia-based Prince Holding Group, which it alleged was a sprawling criminal network targeting Americans.

Treasury also moved to “sever” the Cambodia-based financial services conglomerate Huione Group from the US financial system, alleging the group “laundered proceeds of virtual currency scams and heists on behalf of malicious cyber actors.”

Online scams have taken more than $16 billion in the US in recent years, with scams originating in Southeast Asia leading to at least $10 billion of losses in 2024 alone, the Treasury statement on Tuesday said. It added that scams like those from the Prince group were “particularly significant” in a 66% increase in losses from the prior year.

“The rapid rise of transnational fraud has cost American citizens billions of dollars, with life savings wiped out in minutes,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Prince Holding Group, as well as 146 associated individuals and companies. Among those targeted was chairman and chief executive, Chen Zhi, a Cambodian national who was also the target of an unsealed criminal indictment on Tuesday from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network targeted Huione Group for laundering proceeds of cyber-heists carried out by North Korea as well as fraudulent virtual currency investments — known as “pig butchering” scams — in Southeast Asia, the Treasury statement said.

Photo: Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

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