Cambodia liquidates a major scam bank linked to accused scam boss

A Cambodian bank founded by accused scam boss Chen Zhi, who has been indicted by the US over multibillion-dollar fraud and extradited to China, was ordered liquidated on Thursday, Cambodia's central bank said.

Prince Bank "has been placed under liquidation in accordance with the laws" of the country, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said in a statement.

Prince Bank has been "suspended from providing new banking services, including accepting deposits and providing credit", it added.

The NBC said it had appointed auditor Morisonkak MKA as the liquidator.

Prince Bank is a subsidiary of Chen's Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia's largest conglomerates, which Washington has said served as a front for "one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organisations".

Customers who have deposits at Prince Bank "can withdraw money normally by preparing documents for withdrawal", and borrowers "must continue to fulfil their obligations as normal", the NBC added.

Outside a Prince Bank location in the capital Phnom Penh, among 36 branches nationwide, an AFP journalist did not see any customers on Thursday morning. The bank has about a billion dollars in assets under management, according to its website.

Chinese-born Chen was sanctioned by Washington and London in October for directing alleged cyberfraud run by hundreds of scammers trafficked into compounds in Cambodia.

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Cambodian authorities said they arrested Chen and two other Chinese nationals and extradited them to China on Tuesday. The operation was carried out according to a request from Chinese authorities following months of "investigative cooperation", Cambodia's interior ministry said.

Chinese authorities have not commented on Chen's arrest since it was announced on Wednesday.

The US Justice Department declined to comment on Wednesday.

"This arrest comes after months of building pressure against the Cambodian government for continuing to harbour and abet a now famous criminal actor," said Jacob Daniel Sims, a transnational crime expert and visiting fellow at Harvard University's Asia Center.

The "vast majority" of the dozens of scam compounds in Cambodia operated with "strong support" from the government, Sims told AFP, adding that a change in status quo could only happen if international pressure on the nation's "scam-invested oligarchs" was sustained.

Cambodian officials deny allegations of government involvement and say authorities are cracking down. But Amnesty International said last year that rights abuses in scam hubs were happening on a "mass scale", and the government's poor response suggested its complicity.

Chen faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted in the United States on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges involving approximately 127,271 Bitcoin seized by the US, worth more than $11 billion at current prices.

Prince Group has denied the allegations.

US prosecutors in October unsealed an indictment accusing Chen of presiding over compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers carried out cryptocurrency fraud schemes that netted billions.

Victims were targeted through so-called "pig butchering" scams - investment schemes that build trust over time before stealing funds.

The operations have caused billions in global losses.

Scam centres across Cambodia, Myanmar and the region lure foreign nationals - many Chinese - with fake job ads, then force them under threat of violence to commit online fraud.

Amnesty International has identified at least 53 scam compounds in Cambodia alone, where rights groups say criminal networks perpetrate human trafficking, forced labour, torture and slavery.

Experts estimate tens of thousands of people work in the multibillion-dollar industry, some willingly and others trafficked. Since around 2015, Prince Group has operated across more than 30 countries under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses, US prosecutors have said.

Chen and top executives allegedly used political influence and bribed officials in multiple countries to shield illicit operations.

In Cambodia, Chen served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, former leader Hun Sen. His Cambodian nationality was revoked in December, the interior ministry said.

First published on Fanatical Futurist on 8 January 2026.

311 Intelligence

What this means

Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit

The big shift is from chasing scammers to taking apart the businesses behind them. US prosecutors say Prince Group operated across more than 30 countries under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses. We track Crime Infiltrating Legal Business, criminal groups buying into legitimate sectors to launder money, as a Prepare trend with wide use by 2030. Liquidating a bank with about a billion dollars in assets removes one of the tools such networks rely on.

What it means by sector.

• Banks and financial services: Prince Bank shows how a licensed bank can sit inside a group accused of running scam compounds. We track Mandatory Scam Reimbursement, regulators making banks, telcos and platforms pay for scams that pass through their systems, as a Prepare trend with wide use by 2028.
• Crypto and law enforcement: the US case involves about 127,271 Bitcoin seized, worth more than $11 billion. Blockchain Analytics, which police use to follow digital money through public records, already reached wide use in 2020.
• Governments: Chen was sanctioned by Washington and London before his arrest. Sanctions already reached wide use in 2022 as a core tool of economic statecraft, and this case shows them paired with pressure on the countries that host scam hubs.

What to do now.

• Check your counterparties and correspondent banks for links to groups named in scam and sanctions actions.
• Train staff and customers to spot investment schemes that build trust over time before stealing funds.
• Review how quickly you can trace and freeze crypto payments linked to fraud.

The Starburst technologies behind this story

From the 311 Technology Starburst (first product, expected wide use and readiness):

Technology	Category	First product	Wide use	Action	TRL
Blockchain Analytics	Intelligence	2014	2020	Act now	9
Graph Neural Networks	Intelligence	2018	2028	Prepare	8

And the trends they feed, from the 311 Trends Starburst:

Trend	Wide use	Action
Crime Infiltrating Legal Business	2030	Prepare
Mandatory Scam Reimbursement	2028	Prepare
Sanctions	2022	Act now

How this moves the trend

Online fraud has been industrialising for years. In 2022 scammers burned crypto and reconfigured smart contracts to steal millions, and in 2023 generative AI was accelerating financial fraud on an epic scale. In 2024 a North Korean operation used laptop farms to target hundreds of US companies. The Prince Bank liquidation shows governments now going after the banks and conglomerates behind such operations.

Go deeper with 311

• The 311 Starburst Centre: every technology and trend above, with timelines and readiness.
• 311 Vantage: ask what industrial-scale scams mean for your organisation and get a plain English executive brief.
• The Exponential Technology Codex and the Annual Trends Codex: the technologies and trends reshaping every industry.
• Book a briefing or keynote on the future of fraud, scams and cyber security for your board or leadership team.