Editorial | Silver lining in sprawling scam case is cross-border cooperation

The brazen criminal case involving Chen Zhi shows the importance of joint global efforts against cybercrime and transnational scams

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Motorists ride past a branch of Prince Bank in Phnom Penh on October 15. Hong Kong has joined jurisdictions like the United States, Britain and Singapore in freezing assets linked to China-born businessman Chen Zhi and Prince Group, a multinational network accused of running vast scam centre operations. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:45am, 12 Nov 2025

The net is closing in on accused scammer and human trafficker Chen Zhi. The latest move involves Hong Kong police freezing HK$2.75 billion (US$352 million) in assets including cash, stocks and funds. These are believed to be criminal proceeds from a transnational criminal empire implicated in telecoms fraud, money laundering, kidnapping and trafficking allegedly headed by the Fujian-born Cambodian businessman, who is still at large.

The United States, Britain, Taiwan and Singapore have already carried out similar actions, with the two Western countries having also imposed sanctions against Chen and his associates. These have been multinational law enforcement efforts amid growing concerns over scam networks operating in countries such as Cambodia.

With cross-national crime syndicates, no single jurisdiction is equipped to target them. Interpol’s work is especially important now, given the growing sophistication of international criminals using, for example, hard-to-trace cryptocurrencies. Last month, the US Treasury Department designated one of Chen’s companies, Prince Group, as a “transnational criminal organisation”, alleging scams, human trafficking, torture, money laundering and illegal online gambling.

Hong Kong watchdog the Securities and Futures Commission has suspended the licences of Mighty Divine Securities Limited and Mighty Divine Investment Management Limited, firms associated with Zhou Yun, identified by the US as Chen’s financial assistant.

The criminal enterprise is alleged to have run scam centres primarily in Cambodia and Myanmar, using fake adverts to lure jobseekers who were then confined in camps and forced to commit online fraud under threat of violence and torture.

The US Treasury Department described its action targeting 146 people within the criminal enterprise as the largest in Southeast Asia.

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