The most expensive "pig-butchering scam" in history: $15 billion, gone just like that

When the U.S. Department of Justice threw out the seizure list - 127,271 bitcoins worth $15 billion, the entire currency circle and mainstream media exploded.

This money does not belong to any Wall Street tycoon, nor does it belong to any mysterious miner. Its owner is a criminal empire entrenched in Cambodia called the “Prince Group”. And its core business is that our ears are calloused, but this time it has played a new height and a new brutality - “pig killing plate”.

This number directly refreshed history and became the largest cryptocurrency confiscation case in history. But behind this pile of cold numbers, it is not a technological game, but countless hollowed out families and thousands of young people who have been imprisoned like “slaves”.

Some netizens left a comment, hitting the nail on the head: “It’s still Western medicine that works quickly.” ”

This sentence sounds a bit rough, but it is terribly accurate. A criminal cancer that has intertwined roots in the East has finally been accurately put down by a dose of “fierce medicine” from the West.

Side A “Prince”, side B “Living King of Hell”

The protagonist of this story, 37-year-old Chen Zhi, when he goes out to meet people, his business card shines brightly: the chairman of Prince Group, a multinational entrepreneur, and a “superior person” holding dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and Cambodia. His company website is full of real estate and finance and other tall businesses, and he packages himself like a warm-hearted patriotic businessman.

But this layer of golden skin was torn off by the Americans, revealing the B-side, bloody and dirty:

One of the “largest” criminal groups in Asia: The real main business of the Prince Group is to open at least 10 “fraud parks” in Cambodia. Don’t think of that place when you go in.

Modern “slave factories”: They use “overseas high-paying” posts to deceive young people from countries such as China, Thailand and Vietnam. As soon as the person arrived, his passport was confiscated and he was directly reduced to a “piglet”. Every day, they are forced to deceive people on the Internet with high intensity, and if they are disobedient, they will be beaten and tortured.

Global “slaughterhouse”: These locked up young people are forced to play the role of “rich and handsome” and “white rich and beautiful” online, online dating and investing with victims around the world, and finally tricking people into fake cryptocurrency platforms to squeeze out the last penny.

Chen Zhi’s gang used this bloody money to live an emperor-like life - famous watches, private jets, and 19 mansions bought in London. And all this is built on other people’s hell.

The counter-kill of the “digital hunter”

To be honest, the traditional police are really not easy to deal with this kind of top criminal gang that uses cryptocurrency to launder money. But this time, the joint action of the United States and Britain is simply a textbook-level “hacker counter-killing”.

How did they get the $15 billion?

On-chain tracking: Bitcoin transactions, although they appear anonymous, are each account on a public “ledger.” Financial experts in the United States and the United Kingdom are like a group of top “digital hunters”, biting the flow of funds, no matter how it transfers and confuses, peels off the skin layer by layer, and finally locks the core wallets where huge amounts of money are stored.

Undercover infiltration: It’s useless to just find the wallet address, you have to have the key (private key). The most thrilling part of the announcement is that the law enforcement department sent undercover agents to successfully break into the criminal group and finally get the private key. This is simply a Hollywood blockbuster.

Global blockade: The U.S. Treasury Department directly blocked the Prince Group, defining it as a “transnational criminal organization”, which freezes all bank accounts and corporate assets around the world. The British side also took action at the same time and seized all Chen Zhi’s real estate in London. This is equivalent to directly pulling out its oxygen tube.

This also tells everyone a truth: don’t really think that blockchain is an extrajudicial place. In the face of state-level technology and power, the layer of “anonymous” window paper will break with a single stab.

Why is “Western medicine” so fierce?

Why is the netizen’s sentence “Western medicine works quickly”? Because it suddenly talked about the sore spot of wire fraud in Southeast Asia: its own “immune system” has long since failed.

Crazy growth under the “umbrella”: Why can these fraud parks be so arrogant? Because in some places in northern Myanmar and Cambodia, the emperor is far away, and the law is a piece of paper. Criminal gangs can use money to smash the “protective umbrella” of local officials and local forces, and they can build and start construction safely.

Industrial transfer from “involution”: In the past two years, China, Myanmar and Thailand jointly attacked northern Myanmar and did destroy a number of parks. But these guys are like Xiaoqiang, who can’t be killed, and when they see that the wind is tight, they immediately drag their families and “transfer” to Cambodia and other places where supervision is more relaxed, and as a result, they make it a miasma.

Dimensionality reduction strike from the “God’s perspective”: Compared with these regional “cat-and-mouse games”, the United States’ action this time is purely a “dimensionality reduction strike”. It does not talk to you about local cooperation, but directly starts from the lifeblood of the “faucet” of global finance - the US dollar settlement system and cryptocurrency exchanges. No matter where you are, it can strangle you as long as you want to use money.

This “Western medicine” is indeed fierce, but it is also quite embarrassing: when a place cannot cure the rotten sores on its body, outsiders come in with a scalpel, and it often becomes the only choice.

Let’s talk a few words about ourselves

Chen Zhi is still running away, and the fraud park in Southeast Asia is still running. But the $15 billion in ashes was definitely a resounding slap in the face of global cybercrime.

This matter is related to each of us: First, behind the “perfect lovers” and “investment masters” who suddenly appeared on the Internet may be an unlucky guy who is forced to type with an electric baton. Don’t be greedy is the only last word to protect your wallet and feelings. Second, cryptocurrency is a good technology, but it should not become a “money laundering paradise” for criminals. If this industry wants to be truly accepted, you have to clean the house yourself. Third, in the face of this globalized crime, no country can solve the problem behind closed doors.

When an avalanche occurs, not a single snowflake feels its responsibility. This shocking case is not only a topic to brag about, but also a mirror. It reflects the greed of human nature, and also reflects the distance between us and sin, which is actually a layer of screen. **$IOST **$ETH **$BTC **