A network that operates illegal scam centres, which trick victims across the world out of substantial sums of money and torture their trafficked workers, is today (14 October) sanctioned by the UK and US governments.
Across Southeast Asia, scam centres are using sophisticated schemes, including scams in which people are lured into fake romantic relationships, to defraud victims on an industrial scale, including in the UK. Those conducting the scams are often trafficked foreign nationals, trapped and forced to carry out online fraud under threat of torture.
As part of the crackdown, a £12 million mansion in North London, owned by a multi-national network responsible for using forced labour to conduct online scams, has been frozen.
The leader of the network, Chen Zhi, and his web of enablers have incorporated their businesses in the British Virgin Islands and invested in the London property market, including a £12 million mansion on Avenue Road in North London, a £100 million office building on Fenchurch Street in the City of London, and seventeen flats on New Oxford Street and in Nine Elms in South London.
The sanctions will freeze these businesses and properties with immediate effect, locking Chen and his network out of the UK’s financial system.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said
The masterminds behind these horrific scam centres are ruining the lives of vulnerable people and buying up London homes to store their money.
Together with our US allies, we are taking decisive action to combat the growing transnational threat posed by this network – upholding human rights, protecting British nationals and keeping dirty money off our streets.”
The individuals and entities targeted today include
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The Prince Group and its Chairman Chen Zhi – The Prince Group is a high-profile, multi-billion-pound conglomerate with extensive business activities across Cambodia and beyond. Chen and the Prince Group have constructed casinos and compounds used as scam centres, maintain links to their operations through corporate proxies, and are implicated in laundering the proceeds.
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Jin Bei Group – A leisure and entertainment business linked to the Prince Group, whose properties include a flagship seven-storey hotel and casino in the Cambodian tourist hub of Sihanoukville, as well as multiple scam centres.
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Golden Fortune Resorts World Ltd. – The company behind a large scam compound on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, built by a Prince Group subsidiary and disguised as a “technology park”.
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Byex Exchange – A cryptocurrency platform with links to Jin Bei and Prince Group.
Scam centres in Cambodia, Myanmar and across the region use fake job adverts to attract foreign nationals to disused casinos or purpose-built compounds, where they are forced to carry out online fraud under threat of torture. Scams often involve building online relationships to convince targets to ‘invest’ increasingly large sums of money into fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. The proceeds are then laundered using a sophisticated financial ecosystem that includes seemingly legitimate front businesses and online gambling platforms.
Today’s sanctions are being coordinated with sanctions by the US to ensure maximum impact, and follow extensive investigations by the FCDO and the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Fraud Minister Lord Hanson said
Fraudsters prey on the most vulnerable by stealing life savings, ruining trust, and devastating lives. We will not tolerate this.
These sanctions prove our determination to stop those who profit from this activity, hold offenders 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.
The City of London’s Action Fraud team is working to protect British nationals from fraud. More information on staying safe can be found on the Government’s Stop! Think Fraud campaign page at https//stopthinkfraud.campaign.gov.uk/