The $11 Billion Marketplace Enabling the Crypto Scam Economy
Jul 11, 2024
auto_awesome
Explore the dark world of a billion-dollar marketplace enabling crypto scams, from deepfake services to human trafficking. Elliptic uncovered an online platform linked to Cambodia's ruling family facilitating over $11 billion in illicit transactions, largely through pig butchering schemes.
Illicit marketplace Huwone Guarantee sells tools for human trafficking and crypto scams linked to Cambodia's ruling family.
Criminal ecosystem facilitating crypto scams and human trafficking can be disrupted with international sanctions on platforms like Huwone Guarantee.
Deep dives
Criminal Industry of Crypto Scams and Pig Butchering
The podcast delves into the emergence of a criminal industry involved in crypto scams and pig butchering, which has become a lucrative business involving secondary services such as finding targets, money laundering, and tools for human trafficking. One Cambodian online platform, Huwone Guarantee, connected to the country's ruling family, serves as a key marketplace for illicit transactions, enabling scammers to conduct operations worth billions of dollars through cryptocurrency schemes. The research exposes the extensive use of Huwone Guarantee for scam activities, including the sale of products like GPS tracking shackles and electric batons used in human trafficking scams.
Implications and Opportunities for Disruption
The pervasive nature of the pig butchering industry and crypto scams highlights the challenges posed by these criminal activities, with ties to Chinese organized crime and decentralised money laundering methods. The podcast underscores the potential for disrupting this criminal ecosystem by proposing international sanctions on entities like Huwone Guarantee to impede their illicit activities. By targeting the leadership behind these platforms, there is an opportunity to curb the flow of funds and dismantle the network supporting these scams, ultimately aiming to disrupt the intricate web of criminal operations.
1.
Exploring the $11 Billion Marketplace Enabling the Crypto Scam Economy
Deepfake scam services. Victim data. Electrified shackles for human trafficking. Crypto tracing firm Elliptic found all were available for sale on an online marketplace linked to Cambodia’s ruling family.