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Authorities have seized $15 billion (£11.3 billion) worth of Bitcoin and several luxury London properties in a joint UK-US crackdown on the criminal masterminds behind romance scams. Southeast Asia,
The Bitcoin seized by US investigators is the largest seizure in the history of the Justice Department.
Mansions and office blocks worth crores in the city London One in 19 UK properties being seized as both governments issue ban on gangs running such scams centers- industrial scale.
The network works to lure people into fake romantic relationships online before draining victims of their savings.
But the people perpetrating the scams are often trafficked foreign nationals who are forced to commit online fraud under threat of torture.
According to the City of London Police, romance scams cost the UK at least £92m in the 2023–2024 financial year, with some estimates putting the total loss at more than £100m.
Last year, there were more than 8,000 reports of romance scams in the UK, with thousands more believed to have gone unreported.
Scam centers in Cambodia, Myanmar and throughout the region use fake job advertisements to lure foreigners to disused casinos or purpose-built complexes, where they are forced to commit online fraud under threat of torture.
Scams often involve creating online relationships to convince people to invest large sums of money in fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. The proceeds are then laundered using a sophisticated financial ecosystem that includes seemingly legitimate front businesses and online gambling platforms.
Individuals and groups accused of involvement and targeted by the sanctions include Prince Holding Group, a Cambodia-based multinational conglomerate, and its chairman and founder Chen Ze.
The US Justice Department said it was charging Chen, also known as “Vincent”, with wire-fraud conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy for directing forced labor scam complexes in Cambodia.
Authorities said they were also seizing 127,271 bitcoins — the proceeds of fraud and the largest seizure in Justice Department history.
In Britain, a £12 million mansion owned by the chain’s multinational network in Avenue Road, north London, has been seized, the Foreign Office said.
Chen and his backers have set up their business in the British Virgin Islands and have invested in the London property market, including mansions, a £100m 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, sanctions would immediately freeze these businesses and assets, locking the chain and its network out of the UK financial system.
The Prince Group is a high-profile, billion-pound conglomerate with extensive business activities in Cambodia and beyond. It has been claimed that Chen and the Prince Group, which built the casinos and complexes used as scam centres, maintain connections to their operations through corporate proxies, and are involved in money laundering.
Jin Bei Group, a leisure and entertainment business linked to Prince Group, whose properties include a major seven-storey hotel and casino in the Cambodian tourist hub of Sihanoukville, as well as several scam centres, has also been hit by the sanctions.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The masterminds behind these horrific scam centers are ruining the lives of vulnerable people and buying London homes to hoard their money.
“Together with our US allies, we are taking decisive action to tackle the growing international threat posed by this network – upholding human rights, protecting British citizens and keeping dirty money off our streets.”
Detective Superintendent Gary Miles of the City of London Police, in charge of investigating scams, previously warned: “Romance fraudsters prey on the kindness and compassionate nature within all of us, using highly manipulative and coercive techniques to exploit this to their advantage. Romance fraud can result in people losing their hard-earned savings, leaving thousands of pounds in debt and in some extreme cases Also, to mortgage their houses.”
The new sanctions are being coordinated with US sanctions to ensure maximum impact, and follow a comprehensive investigation by the State Office and the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Fraud Minister Lord Hanson said: “Fraudsters prey on the most vulnerable by stealing life savings, destroying trust and ruining lives. We will not tolerate it.”
“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 even further to disrupt corrupt networks and protect the public from shameless criminals.”
US Attorney-General Pamela Bondi said: “Today’s action represents one of the most significant strikes yet against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud.”
Independent Attempts have been made to contact Mr Chen and Prince Group for comment.