Laundering providers shutting down, “workers” fleeing their oppressive rip-off compounds and ongoing arrests are amongst the pressures dealing with the operations.
The organizations in query conduct so-called “pig butchering” scams on an industrial scale. These scams use romantic relationships or faux funding alternatives to extract cash from victims, normally in crypto.
Earlier this week, blockchain forensics firm Elliptic reported that Tudou Assure, a Telegram-based cash laundering operation and rip-off infrastructure market, had shut down.
Elliptic describes Tudou as a “dominant force in Southeast Asia’s scam economy.”
The platform had processed $12 billion value of transactions. A growth in exercise adopted the shuttering of its predecessor, Huione Assure, final yr.
Huione Group’s #TudouGuarantee — Southeast Asia’s largest unlawful transaction assure platform — right this moment formally introduced it’s shutting down all operations and clearing all public teams.
As a key pillar of the telecom rip-off ecosystem, this closure reveals the native illicit… pic.twitter.com/yafKm2vN3m
— Bitrace (@Bitrace_team) January 16, 2026
Cambodian crackdown
The Guardian reported yesterday that “thousands of people, including suspected victims of human trafficking, are estimated to have been released or escaped from scam compounds across Cambodia over recent days.”
Releases and escape makes an attempt have been recognized at 10 separate compounds throughout the nation.
Nonetheless, the report describes Amnesty Worldwide’s concern over the shortage of assist for the employees. They danger “being moved to a new scamming location — a trend in previous releases.”
On Tuesday, the BBC reported the arrest of “alleged scam mastermind” Kuong Li in Phnom Penh the earlier week. He faces prices of “illegal recruitment for exploitation, aggravated fraud, organised crime and money laundering… since 2019.”
Going world
The arrest of Chen Zhi and ongoing crackdown capped off a 2025 by which Chinese language stress led to disruption in operations alongside the Myanmar-Cambodia border.
Workarounds, equivalent to counting on Elon Musk’s Starlink for web connectivity after energy was lower off, have been brief lived. Because the crackdown continues, with stiff penalties imposed on offenders, the extremely cellular operations are increasing elsewhere.
Asian-linked cybercrime operations have now begun to pop up across the globe.
