{"id":14835,"date":"2025-03-23T06:28:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T06:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/how-scammers-launder-money-and-get-away-with-it\/"},"modified":"2025-03-23T06:28:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T06:28:56","slug":"how-scammers-launder-money-and-get-away-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/how-scammers-launder-money-and-get-away-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How Scammers Launder Money and Get Away With It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Every few weeks, fireworks light up the night sky in Cambodia, set off by scammers to salute their biggest swindles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By the time the shells pop and crackle, somebody\u2019s life savings are probably gone. Maybe the victim fell for an online romance scam or bought into a fake cryptocurrency exchange. Whatever the scheme, the money has vanished, sucked into a complex money-laundering network that moves billions of dollars at a dizzying speed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The F.B.I., China\u2019s Ministry of Public Security, Interpol and others have tried to combat scammers, who \u200boften lurk on social media and dating apps, luring people into bogus financial schemes or other ruses. Telecom companies have blocked numbers. Banks have issued repeated warnings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yet the industry persists because its money-laundering operation is so efficient. Unsuspecting victims worldwide lose tens of billions of dollars each year, money that must be scrubbed of its criminal origins and deposited into the legitimate economy. The money-laundering system is so hydra-headed that when governments strike it in one place, it pops up in another.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This underworld peeks out in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, home to a global clearinghouse for money launderers. It can be glimpsed, too, in the coastal city of Sihanoukville, a notorious refuge for fraudsters. Scammers ply their trade from call centers, operating in fortified compounds or on the upper floors of unfinished high-rises. Seaside restaurants are packed with money launderers and other criminals doing business over spicy Chinese food.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">We obtained a cache of documents, a kind of money-laundering handbook, and spoke to nearly a half-dozen scammers and their launderers. The documents are not linked to any one scam or victim but reveal a method for moving illicit money that has proved all but impossible to stop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The money launderers are as vital to criminals as getaway drivers are to bank robbers. Without them, there would be no loot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Once scammers persuade strangers to part with their savings, they need to quickly move money from one account to another, and one country to another, before \u200btheir targets discover the ruse and alert their banks\u200b or the police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the end, the money arrives \u201cclean\u201d \u2014 with virtually no trace to the original scam.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So how does it get done?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Following the trail led us, surprisingly, to an established financial conglomerate in Cambodia called Huione Group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This is not a back-alley shop with a side hustle in cleaning dirty money. Huione is an established firm that does brisk and legitimate business in Southeast Asia and has satellite companies in other parts of the world. Its QR codes are everywhere in Cambodia \u2014 customers use them to pay their bills in hotels, restaurants and supermarkets. Huione ads are plastered along major highways. Its suite of financial services include banking and insurance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Huione (pronounced Hu-WAY-wahn) is a constellation of affiliates, and not all of them are legitimate. One arm offers bespoke money laundering services, according to the documents<strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">, <\/strong>which come from the company, and interviews with two people who are directly familiar with the operation. They spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear for their safety. The company did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Another affiliate openly runs an online bazaar for criminals to find money launderers. The precise size of this marketplace is practically impossible to measure, but the analytics firm Elliptic has linked it to $26.8 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since 2021. The industry is so opaque that it is difficult to separate legitimate transactions from illegal ones, but Elliptic says the bazaar is the world\u2019s largest illicit internet market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hun To, a cousin of Cambodia\u2019s prime minister, is a director of one Huione company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Huione\u2019s clients include large criminal enterprises, such as a group in Myanmar that exploits human trafficking victims, according to a scammer, a money launderer and examinations of their cryptocurrency trade by the analytics firms <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elliptic.co\/blog\/huione-largest-ever-illicit-online-marketplace-stablecoin\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Elliptic<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chainalysis.com\/blog\/2024-crypto-crime-mid-year-update-part-2\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Chainalysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And yet, this money-laundering network operates with impunity. The group has never been targeted for sanctions by any government. The cryptocurrency company Tether has frozen some of the group\u2019s accounts, at the behest of unspecified law enforcement officials, and the messaging app Telegram has shut down some of its channels. But neither measure made a lasting effect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-6dd51353\">Moving Bricks<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Huione makes money at every step of the process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">First, one affiliate, which until recently was called Huione Guarantee, hosts the marketplace where scammers can find matchmakers. The matchmakers are essential to the system and their work is so repetitive that the Chinese name for it is \u201cmoving bricks,\u201d according to Yanyu Chen, an anthropologist <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/globalchinapulse.net\/moving-bricks-money-laundering-practices-in-the-online-scam-industry\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">who studies money-laundering schemes<\/a> in Cambodia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The online bazaar is made up of thousands of chat groups on Telegram.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On these Telegram channels, anonymous users advertise money laundering services with the wink and nod of barely disguised language. The posts are public; anyone with the Telegram app can see them. Some merchants also sell stolen personal data, applications for impersonating others and other essential services to scammers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One channel, called \u201cDemand and Supply,\u201d had more than 400,000 users with hundreds of daily messages, including advertisements for money-laundering services. After we sent questions to Huione Group and others in late February, Telegram said it had removed the channel. But another quickly sprung up, with some 250,000 members joining within a week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Huione Guarantee did not respond to repeated requests for comment but has denied its relationship with Huione Group, the financial conglomerate. It even changed its name in October, shedding the Huione name. But it told customers on Telegram that Huione Group remained one of its \u201cstrategic partners and shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Second, the bazaar guarantees the laundering transactions. Why? Because there is little honor among thieves, and scammers get scammed, too. To prove their credibility, matchmakers and money mules pay a deposit to Huione Guarantee, which holds it in escrow. This assures scammers that nobody will abscond with their money (or if someone does, that person will lose some of their own money).<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The price to launder money is determined by the crime committed to get it. Scams like impersonating government officials incur a higher cost because the victims are more likely to call the police or alert their banks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Location affects the price, too. Launderers charge up to 60 percent to clean money in China. That is because the country has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mps.gov.cn\/n2254314\/n2254487\/c7725322\/content.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">tightened controls<\/a> since 2020, arresting thousands of people and freezing large sums of money in a nationwide crackdown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">China and Cambodia have agreed to collaborate on law enforcement operations, leading to multiple arrests of mostly lower-level criminals. This has not made a dent on the scamming and money-laundering industries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While the matchmaker deals are worked out privately, one-on-one, the bazaar makes money, too. It sells ads on public groups, charges maintenance fees for private groups and takes small cuts from deals. Most of the transactions are denominated in the cryptocurrency Tether, but some are conducted in cash, gold and through bank transfers. (The bazaar even issued its own cryptocurrency last year.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The bazaar denies any criminal association in disclaimers posted on its website and on Telegram channels. \u201cAll business in the public groups is provided by third-party merchants, which has nothing to do with Huione Guarantee,\u201d one post says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Third, another Huione affiliate, Huione International Pay, is more directly involved in laundering money. It is a matchmaker itself, according to internal company documents and two people familiar with its operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The documents and insiders indicate that Huione International Pay operates with the efficiency of a legitimate, professional bank. It is based inside the conglomerate\u2019s headquarters in Phnom Penh, a glass and concrete building with two panda statues standing guard by the entrance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-13\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One company department handles customer relations for scammers and other illicit actors. Another monitors Telegram channels. A third department tracks money mule accounts in at least a dozen countries, according to internal documents we reviewed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Huione\u2019s companies operate with a veneer of legitimacy in a country with \u201cvery limited regulatory enforcement, if any at all,\u201d said John Wojcik, a threat analyst with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The conglomerate\u2019s obscure ownership structure creates challenges for targeted law enforcement, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But even if Huione were shut down, other operators would quickly replace it, according to Mr. Wojcik.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe can already see competitors now positioning themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The National Bank of Cambodia, which regulates financial institutions, said the government was committed to ensuring that \u201cfinancial transactions are safe and transparent.&#8221; It said the government was working to comply with international anti-money-laundering recommendations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The national bank said that it had not renewed a license for Huione\u2019s payment service (the one with the QR codes) to operate in Cambodia because it \u201cdid not meet the renewal requirements.\u201d Huione quickly announced plans to register its business in Japan and Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-14\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-3f5972cb\">Hunting Mules<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Money mules are the people who run the bank accounts and wallets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some mules open these bank accounts using fake identities, which artificial intelligence has made easier to create, according to Elad Fouks, who monitors fraud for Chainalysis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mules spread out the deposits and withdrawals to make them less noticeable to banks. Transactions below $10,000, for example, are less likely to draw attention. Most accounts and virtual wallets that are used for money laundering are active only for a few weeks or months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, the mules \u2014 and not matchmakers or scammers \u2014 run the highest risk of getting caught.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In one U.S. court case that outlines the mechanics of such operations, the lead defendant, Daren Li, ran a money mule syndicate that registered 74 U.S. shell companies to launder nearly $80 million. The companies set up accounts at Bank of America and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When victims sent money to the accounts, the funds quickly moved to a bank in the Bahamas. From there, the money was used to purchase Tether cryptocurrency held on the exchange Binance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Within days, the money moved to another virtual wallet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Li worked with Huione International Pay to launder money, according to records we reviewed. But both the F.B.I. and the Secret Service declined to confirm the link. Mr. Li pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit money laundering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-15\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-58f6c64\">Payday<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Imagine, once again, that you are a scam boss. Something has gone wrong: Your mule has been arrested; the bank froze his account; or maybe he ran off with your money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In these cases, your matchmaker arbitrates disputes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If the mule is at fault, the matchmaker will help retrieve the deposit from escrow and get it to you. If nobody is to blame, the losses are chalked up to the cost of doing business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But, if all goes well, you will have your payday, usually in Tether, which you can convert to U.S. dollars at a casino or using Huione\u2019s payment company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-16\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">You can use that money to pay your employees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">These days, scamming operations mimic professional institutions, employing thousands of people in marketing, sales and human resources departments. Often, many employees are victims of human trafficking who are coerced into scamming faraway targets. Some scammers even model their organizations on 19th century company towns, paying wages only after employees complete a season of work. Until then, workers receive company credit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-17\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The wages enrich the restaurants, casinos and brothels that make a killing from captive employees who are often confined to fortified compounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Also on the scammer payroll are attractive models who are paid to join video calls and persuade victims to part with their cash. Some of them swap their faces using artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Scammers, like everyone else, have to pay their landlords \u2014 for housing and, in their case, for protection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And then there are the behind-the-scenes services, many of which can be bought through Huione\u2019s bazaar. Scammers pay software developers to build websites that imitate investment platforms. They need internet and computer infrastructure. And they pay thieves to steal personal data on potential victims: national identification numbers, credit card information, location data and even details about previous hotel stays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some of the money will go to dealerships that sell luxury cars. Some is used to buy property in places like London and Dubai.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-18\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And of course, some of it will go to fireworks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Henry Huang and Tat Oudom contributed reporting. Audio produced by <!-- -->Parin Behrooz<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/23\/world\/asia\/cambodia-money-laundering-huione.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every few weeks, fireworks light up the night sky in Cambodia, set off by scammers to salute their biggest swindles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2720,4297,735,870,2717,4719,3979,4717,1252,4336,4718],"class_list":["post-14835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-audio-neutral-immersive","tag-audio-neutral-suspenseful","tag-banking-and-financial-institutions","tag-cambodia","tag-frauds-and-swindling","tag-huione","tag-interpol-international-criminal-police-organization","tag-money-laundering","tag-robberies-and-thefts","tag-telegram-llc","tag-tether-operations-ltd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Scammers Launder Money and Get Away With It - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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