"Pig butchering" is the name scammers themselves use for a long con: fatten the victim with attention and fake profits, then take everything. It has become the most profitable fraud in the world, run from walled compounds in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos by people who are often trafficked and forced to work. The case against Prince Group is the largest attempt yet to go after the people at the top.

bitcoin the US is seeking to forfeit
127,271
their value when the case was filed (about $10.7B by September 2026)
$15B
Prince-linked people and companies sanctioned by the US on day one
146
laundered through Huione Group, according to FinCEN
$4B+
lost by Americans to Southeast Asian scam centers in 2024
$10B+
people working in the compounds, by a UN estimate
300,000

How pig butchering works

US prosecutors describe the same pattern in case after case.89

  1. First contact. A stranger messages "by mistake", on a dating app or through social media, using a fake identity.
  2. Trust. Weeks or months of friendly or romantic conversation, following scripts the compounds call jingliao, "scripted chat".
  3. The investment. The new friend shares a way to make money: a crypto platform, an "insider" group. Early deposits show large profits, and small withdrawals may even work.
  4. The squeeze. Victims put in more, sometimes borrowing. When they try to withdraw, the platform asks for "taxes" or "fees".
  5. Silence. The contact and the platform disappear. Often a "recovery service" appears next, offering to get the money back for a fee.

The scale is industrial. The government's complaint describes phone farms of 1,250 phones running 76,000 social media accounts.8 Many of the people typing are victims too: recruited with offers of well-paid jobs in customer service or tech support, then held behind high walls and barbed wire.82

The case against Prince Group

Prince Group presented itself as a legitimate Cambodian conglomerate, with its own bank. Prosecutors in Brooklyn say it also ran at least ten scam compounds in Cambodia, and that a co-conspirator boasted of making more than $30 million a day in 2018.8

The indictment, unsealed on 14 October 2025, charges Chen Zhi with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, which together carry up to 40 years in prison. The same day, prosecutors filed a civil complaint to forfeit about 127,271 bitcoin, which they say had been held in wallets whose private keys Chen controlled and which were now in US custody.1

Sanctions and the money network

The US Treasury designated 146 targets linked to Prince Group, including 117 businesses, and added 35 more in June 2026.210 The UK designated 12 people and entities under its human rights sanctions and froze a £100 million office block in the City of London, a £12 million mansion and 17 flats.3 The European Union followed in July 2026.11

FinCEN, the Treasury's financial crimes unit, went after the plumbing. It found that Huione Group, a Cambodian payments company, laundered at least $4 billion between August 2021 and January 2025, and its final rule cutting Huione off from US correspondent accounts took effect on 17 November 2025.412

Where Chen Zhi is now

Cambodia revoked Chen's citizenship in December 2025, arrested him on 6 January 2026 with two associates and sent him to China the next day. Prince Bank was put into liquidation.5 Chinese prosecutors have since added a charge of intentional injury, which can carry the death penalty, according to a report citing the Chinese outlet Caixin. No trial date has been reported.13

The fight over the bitcoin

The forfeiture case in the Eastern District of New York has drawn an unusual list of claimants: Chen and Prince Group; LuBian, a former bitcoin mining pool that says the coins were stolen from it by "persons unknown" in 2020; and dozens of groups of terrorism victims holding court judgments against Iran, who argue LuBian was an Iranian operation.614

  1. December 2020

    About 127,426 bitcoin leave wallets tied to the LuBian mining pool in a suspected theft, then sit untouched until 2024.

  2. 14 October 2025

    The US files the forfeiture complaint, valuing the coins at about $15 billion.

  3. December 2025 - January 2026

    Chen, Prince Holding Group, Warp Data and LuBian file claims to the bitcoin.

  4. 25 September 2026

    The judge rejects nine alleged scam victims as unsecured creditors without standing and points them to remission. She values the coins at about $10.7 billion.

  5. 15 January 2027

    Briefing ends on the government's motion to strike the terrorism-victim claims.

Nobody has explained publicly how the US obtained the keys, and China's national computer virus emergency response center has accused US hackers of taking the coins in the first place.1516 As of 31 October 2026 there is no final forfeiture order.6

The scam compound economy

Prince Group is one network among many. The estimates differ in method but agree on scale:

MeasureEstimateSource
Yearly profits of Southeast Asian scam centersJust under $40 billionUNODC, April 202517
Losses in 2025 across East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand$88.3B to $114.1BUN report, July 202618
Stolen worldwide by scam centers in Myanmar, Cambodia and LaosAbout $63.9 billion in 2023US Institute of Peace, 202419
People working in the compoundsUp to 300,000, from 66 countriesUN figures cited by the Congressional Research Service7
American losses to Southeast Asian scam centersAt least $10B in 2024; $12.5B in 2025US Treasury; State Department via CRS7
Crypto investment fraud reported to the FBI$7.23 billion in 2025FBI IC39

The crackdown has been real but uneven. Myanmar's army raided the KK Park compound in October 2025 and detained 2,198 people, and China executed members of the Ming and Bai crime families in early 2026.2021 The US Justice Department launched a Scam Center Strike Force in November 2025, which has restrained about $1 billion in crypto.22 Amnesty International says many compounds simply moved to avoid it.7

What victims can do

There is no compensation process for Prince Group victims yet. Remission, the Justice Department's process for returning forfeited money to victims, opens only if the government wins the case. Even then it requires a documented loss, pays no interest, and is shared pro rata if there is not enough to go round.623

If you lost money to a pig-butchering scam

  1. Report it at ic3.gov. The FBI asks for tips about Prince Group at PrinceGroupTips@fbi.gov.1
  2. Keep every message, wallet address, transaction ID and website, with dates. Remission claims need documented losses.
  3. Watch forfeiture.gov for a notice. Petitions are due within 30 days of a notice's last publication date.24
  4. Ignore anyone offering to recover your money for a fee. The FBI says the IC3 "will never ask for payment to recover lost funds".25
  5. Report it on ScamMarketCap to find other people who lost money to the same platform. Read our guide to getting your money back.

Sources

  1. Chairman of Prince Group indicted for operating Cambodian forced labor scam compounds, US Department of Justice, 14 October 2025. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Treasury takes largest action ever against cybercriminal networks in Southeast Asia, US Department of the Treasury, 14 October 2025. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. UK and US take joint action to disrupt major online fraud network, UK Government, 14 October 2025. ↩ ↩2

  4. FinCEN finds Cambodia-based Huione Group to be of primary money laundering concern, FinCEN, 1 May 2025. ↩ ↩2

  5. Cambodia extradites alleged scam mastermind to China, BBC News, 8 January 2026. ↩ ↩2

  6. Docket: United States v. Approximately 127,271 Bitcoin, US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (1:25-cv-05745), via CourtListener, last filing 28 October 2026; and the court's Memorandum and Order of 25 September 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Online Scam Centers in Southeast Asia (R49432), Congressional Research Service, 30 September 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. Verified complaint for forfeiture in rem, US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, 14 October 2025. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. 2025 Internet Crime Report, FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 6 April 2026. ↩ ↩2

  10. Treasury further dismantles scam operations, US Department of the Treasury, 23 June 2026. ↩

  11. EU sanctions target Prince Group and its chairman Chen Zhi, OCCRP, 30 July 2026. ↩

  12. FinCEN issues final rule severing Huione Group from the US financial system, FinCEN, 14 October 2025. ↩

  13. Chinese prosecutors add capital charge against Prince Group founder Chen Zhi, Asia Gaming Brief, 29 July 2026, citing Caixin. ↩

  14. 9/11 victims claim bitcoins seized from Chinese-Iranian mining pool, Protos, 13 October 2026. ↩

  15. Questions swirl around US plans for record $15B Prince Group crypto seizure, ICIJ, 18 March 2026. ↩

  16. China pins 2020 bitcoin heist on the USA, The Register, 12 November 2025. ↩

  17. Cyberfraud in the Mekong reaches an inflection point, UNODC, 21 April 2025. ↩

  18. UN report details Southeast Asia's interconnected criminal economy, OCCRP, 21 July 2026. ↩

  19. Report: Southeast Asia scam centers swindle billions, Voice of America, 14 June 2024, on the US Institute of Peace's findings. ↩

  20. Myanmar military raids major cybercrime center, detains over 2,000 people, Associated Press via KSAT, 20 October 2025. ↩

  21. Four Myanmar-based gang members executed, RTHK, 2 February 2026. ↩

  22. Scam Center Strike Force, US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, updated 29 October 2026. ↩

  23. 28 CFR Part 9: Regulations governing the remission or mitigation of forfeitures, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. ↩

  24. Filing a petition, Forfeiture.gov, US Department of Justice. ↩

  25. Scammers impersonating the IC3, FBI public service announcement, 20 July 2026. ↩