US and UK Take Joint Action Against Southeast Asian Scam Networks

TheCryptoTimesPublished on 2025-10-14Last updated on 2025-10-14

The United States and the United Kingdom have carried out their largest-ever coordinated crackdown on cybercriminal networks operating across Southeast Asia, targeting crypto-linked money laundering and online scam operations.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), alongside the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), announced sweeping sanctions and enforcement actions against two major networks—Cambodia’s Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) and the Huione Group.

According to the Treasury, Huione laundered over $4 billion in illicit crypto and fiat proceeds between 2021 and 2025, including millions tied to North Korean cyber heists and Southeast Asian “pig butchering” scams.

U.S. losses to online investment scams have steadily increased over the last several years, totaling over $16.6 billion.

Today, the U.S. and U.K. have taken the largest action ever targeting cybercriminal networks in Southeast Asia, some of which engage in human trafficking and…
— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) October 14, 2025

The agency’s new rule under the USA PATRIOT Act officially cuts Huione off from the U.S. financial system, blocking its access to correspondent banking and crypto settlement infrastructure. Meanwhile, OFAC designated 146 entities linked to Prince Group TCO and its chairman Chen Zhi, citing their involvement in online investment fraud, human trafficking, and transnational money laundering.

The crackdown follows mounting losses from crypto-related scams, over $16.6 billion since 2023, according to U.S. officials. These schemes often use digital assets to obscure cross-border transfers, exploiting decentralized platforms and stablecoin liquidity pools to move illicit funds globally.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the operation represents “a major step toward dismantling the global infrastructure of financial crime that uses crypto as its conduit.”

U.S. and U.K. crackdown marks new era of cross-border crypto enforcement

The FCDO imposed parallel sanctions on Chen Zhi and his network, while U.S. prosecutors in New York unsealed an indictment alleging that Prince Group used shell companies and offshore wallets to conceal criminal revenue.

Huione’s crypto processing role further linked both networks, revealing how centralized banking systems and blockchain rails have converged into hybrid laundering pipelines.

As regulators increasingly coordinate between jurisdictions, financial crime frameworks are being expanded to cover digital asset intermediaries, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), and on-chain securities.

Also read: UK and US Launch Joint Task Force for Digital Asset Regulation

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