Thailand seizes US$300m in assets linked to cyberscam networks

[BANGKOK] Thailand has seized more than US$300 million in assets tied to criminal networks running multibillion-dollar scam centres in South-east Asia, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Wednesday (Dec 3).

The announcement comes after authorities across Asia, Europe and the United States targeted Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group and its global business network with asset seizures and freezes worth billions of dollars.

In October, US authorities indicted Prince’s Chinese-born founder Chen Zhi, accusing him of presiding over forced labour camps in Cambodia where trafficked workers conduct online scams.

Anutin told reporters on Wednesday that alleged scammers targeted with asset seizures valued at more than US$300 million were “among the big ones”, including Chen, a Cambodian senator and two Thai nationals.

“All those responsible must be brought to justice under the law,” the prime minister said.

Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office said on Tuesday it had seized around 100 items belonging to Prince’s Chen worth US$11.7 million, including land, cash, luxury goods and jewellery.

Authorities said they had also confiscated assets worth nearly US$15 million from Kok An, a Cambodian senator, businessman and ally of former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.

Approximately US$290 million in assets were seized from two Thais with suspected links to scam operations.

Anutin did not say when the seizures occurred.

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Cyber-scam operations have mushroomed across South-east Asia, often operating from unassuming office blocks or warehouses where con artists target Internet users living all over the globe.

Some scam workers go willingly to the cyberfraud hubs, while others are trafficked and held in prison-like conditions.

Britain has also frozen business and London property assets worth more than US$130 million and linked to Chen’s network, while Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong each swooped in with seizures as high as US$350 million.

The US Justice Department in October called Prince Group “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organisations”, and seized around US$15 billion worth of bitcoin that US authorities alleged were criminal proceeds from the company’s networks.

Prince this month denied that it or Chen had committed any crimes. AFP