Catenaa, Saturday, June 31, 2025-Cambodia ruling elite is deeply involved in a sprawling $19 billion cryptocurrency-driven scam industry, according to a report by Humanity Research Consultancy (HRC).
The watchdog group alleges senior government figures have profited from extensive transnational fraud networks that exploit trafficked labor and digital platforms to launder money and evade oversight.
Central to the scheme is Huione Group, a Cambodia-based firm that operates Huione Guarantee, a Telegram-based escrow platform which has processed over $24 billion in illicit funds since 2021.
The company also launched its own stablecoin to bypass traditional financial controls.
The US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has identified Huione as a “primary money laundering concern” and proposed measures to block its access to the US financial system.
The report highlights ties between Huione and high-ranking officials, including Hun To, cousin of Prime Minister Hun Manet, who serves on Huione’s board. Deputy Prime Minister Sar Sokha is also named as an investor in major scam compounds.
The HRC report calls Cambodia the “global epicenter of next-gen transnational fraud” as criminal networks expand across Southeast Asia and beyond.
Supporting this view, a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report last month warned that Southeast Asia’s scam infrastructure is spreading to Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
The UN cited illegal crypto mining and stablecoins as tools used by criminal groups to launder billions.
Telegram recently banned thousands of accounts linked to Huione’s rebranded entity, Haowang Guarantee, effectively dismantling one of Asia’s largest crypto crime marketplaces. The scams include “pig butchering” frauds, where victims are emotionally manipulated into investing large sums in fake schemes.
Cambodia now faces increasing international pressure to crack down on its crypto-enabled criminal networks.
