INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA – OCTOBER 18: Sixty-four South Koreans who had been detained by Cambodian immigration authorities arrive at Incheon International Airport on a chartered flight in Incheon, South Korea, on October 18, 2025.
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South Korea became the latest country to impose sanctions on the Prince Group, a multinational network accused of running large-scale fraud operations across Southeast Asia.
Seoul’s move follows similar actions by the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore.
In a statement Thursday, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the measures mark the country’s first independent sanctions regarding transnational crime and the “largest single sanction measure in history,” according to a Google translation.
“It shows the government’s strong determination to actively respond to organized online crime in Southeast Asia that is causing serious damage at home and abroad,” the statement added.
Prince Group is accused of operating large-scale online ‘scam hubs’ in Cambodia and Myanmar that used trafficked workers to defraud victims around the world. South Korea’s sanctions target 15 individuals and 132 entities linked to the network.
The documents detailed the completion of two private facilities equipped with 1,250 mobile phones that controlled 76,000 accounts on a popular social media platform.
Source: Eastern District of New York, USA
South Korea and Cambodia agreed in October to create a joint task force to help tackle online crimes, after a university student died from torture in August at a scam complex.
Prince Group has denied any wrongdoing. In a Nov. 11 statement issued through U.S. law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, the group called the allegations “baseless.”
“The recent allegations are baseless and appear aimed at justifying the illegal seizure of assets worth billions of dollars,” the Cambodia-based network said, adding that it had hired a team of lawyers from the US legal powerhouse.
CNBC reached out to Prince Group and Boies Schiller Flexner for comment and did not immediately receive a response.
Repression expands
The latest action against Prince Group adds to broader international efforts to curb scam rings in the region. On October 14, the United States and the United Kingdom announced broad sanctions against the Prince Group, which the United States Department of the Treasury designated a “Transnational Criminal Organization.”
The US Department of Justice also seized around $15 billion worth of bitcoin on October 14, held in cryptocurrency wallets owned by Cambodian national Chen Zhi, chairman of Prince Group. Zhi, a 38-year-old Chinese emigrant also known as “Vincent,” was also charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy and remains at large.
Chart of the transnational criminal organization The Prince Group
US Department of the Treasury
That same day, another Cambodian financial network, Huione Group, which the Treasury Department accused in May of colluding with North Korean cybercriminals, was also excluded from the US financial system.
“Huione Group serves as a critical node for laundering the proceeds of cyber heists carried out by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and for [Transnational Criminal Organizations] in Southeast Asia perpetrating virtual currency investment scams, commonly known as “pig butcher” scams, among others,” the U.S. Treasury Department said.
The sanctions announced by Seoul on Thursday also target the Huione Group.
The British government said centers in Southeast Asia used fake job advertisements to lure workers, who were then forced to commit online fraud, including love scams and crypto scams, under threat of torture.
By October, Singapore had seized more than $150 million of assets linked to the group. Singapore Police said these included bank accounts, securities accounts and cash.
