The $15 Billion Crypto Scam Empire the US Just Hit Again: 45 New Sanctions, 226 Targets — 5 Signs You're the Next Victim

The United States has now seized more than $15 billion in cryptocurrency from a single scam network — and on November 5, 2026, it sanctioned 45 more companies and people accused of keeping that network alive. The total number of Prince Group targets now stands at 226. If you have ever received a friendly message from a stranger about a "guaranteed" crypto investment, this is the network behind it — and the five warning signs at the end of this article could be the difference between keeping your savings and losing them.

Prince Group is not a small-time fraud ring. US authorities describe it as a transnational criminal organization that ran industrial-scale crypto investment scams and romance scams from compounds in Southeast Asia, often using trafficked and coerced workers. The November 5 action by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is the third round of sanctions against the network — and this time, the target is not the scammers themselves, but the corporate machine that hid their money: offshore lenders, airlines, insurers, and nominee directors spread across six jurisdictions.

What Happened on November 5: 45 New Sanctions

On November 5, 2026, OFAC added four individuals and 41 companies to the US sanctions list for allegedly sustaining the Prince Group network after two earlier rounds of designations. The four newly sanctioned individuals are Qiu Yong, Zhao Mengyao, He Yujing, and Visal Pang, according to the Treasury's announcement and the US State Department's accompanying statement. The 41 companies are registered in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Singapore, Mauritius, and Malaysia.

Among the named businesses are Hong Kong lender Premium Financial Limited, Prince International Airlines, and CB General Insurance PLC in Cambodia. Treasury says the network helped Prince Group executives hide beneficial ownership, move money through offshore structures, and keep commercial operations running after earlier sanctions.

The designations were coordinated with the FBI, the Department of Justice's Scam Center Strike Force — which reported $580 million in crypto seizures and freezes, as detailed in coverage of the action — and the US Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska. Treasury framed the action as targeting the corporate infrastructure that enables the scams, not just the people running the phones.

Crucially for crypto holders, this round listed no digital-currency wallet addresses. That does not mean crypto is outside the sanctions: US persons must still block and report any property of the designated parties, including crypto, and entities 50% or more owned by blocked persons are blocked too. Under OFAC guidance, US holders of blockable crypto must deny access and report it within 10 business days.

In a separate action the same day, Treasury sanctioned Chui Kok Wa, a Malaysian national based in Madagascar accused of running a scam network that used crypto to defraud Americans of more than $400,000.

Who Is Prince Group — and Why the US Calls It a Criminal Organization

Prince Group is a Cambodia-based organization founded and chaired by Chen Zhi, whom US prosecutors indicted in October 2025 for wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Chen Zhi was extradited to China in January 2026. US authorities say the group ran large scam compounds in Southeast Asia where workers — including trafficking victims — were forced to run crypto investment scams, romance scams, and other online fraud.

The business model is known as "pig butchering": victims are fattened up with trust before being slaughtered financially. A scammer contacts a target out of the blue — often through a wrong-number text, a dating app, or a social media message — and builds a friendly or romantic relationship over days or weeks. The conversation eventually turns to crypto. The scammer shows off impressive "returns" from a trading platform and offers to teach the victim. The victim deposits a small amount, sees the fake dashboard show a profit, and is encouraged to invest more. When they try to withdraw, the platform demands a "tax," a "fee," or a "verification deposit" first. The money is gone, and so is the new friend.

The scale is what makes this case different from a typical fraud story. The US has previously seized more than $15 billion in cryptocurrency tied to the group and its chief executive Chen Zhi, according to Treasury-linked reporting. That figure alone makes Prince Group one of the largest crypto crime cases ever — larger than the $6.3 billion Binance hot-wallet theft that North Korean hackers carried out in October 2026, and larger than almost any single exchange hack in crypto history. The difference is that this money was not stolen in one dramatic heist. It was taken victim by victim, in thousands of small transfers, over years.

The Money Trail in 5 Numbers

The numbers behind this case explain why the US government keeps coming back to it. Here is the money trail in five figures:

Figure	What it means
$15 billion+	Cryptocurrency previously seized by the US tied to Prince Group and its chief executive Chen Zhi.
$12.7 billion	Suspected financial activity linked to crypto investment scams identified by FinCEN, based on 33,904 reports filed between September 2023 and December 2025.
226	Total Prince Group-linked entities and individuals sanctioned across three rounds: 146 in October 2025, 35 in June 2026, and 45 in November 2026.
$580 million	Crypto seizures and freezes reported by the DOJ Scam Center Strike Force, which coordinated on the November action.
33,904	Reports FinCEN analyzed to reach the $12.7 billion figure — a measure of how many victims and banks flagged suspected crypto investment scams in just over two years.

The FinCEN figure deserves a second look. $12.7 billion in suspected crypto investment scam activity, drawn from nearly 34,000 reports in about 27 months, works out to roughly $470 million a month in flagged activity — and that counts only what was reported to banks and filed with FinCEN. The true total, including victims who never reported, is almost certainly higher.

For context on how seriously Washington now takes this threat: the same week Treasury moved against Prince Group's corporate network, it had already cut crypto exchange MEXC off from the American banking system over $16 billion in illicit flows. The US government is treating crypto-enabled fraud as a national security problem, not a consumer-protection footnote. Our report on that action is here: US Treasury Just Cut MEXC Off From American Banks: $16 Billion in Illicit Flows.

How the Scams Actually Work: The 3-Stage Playbook

Prince Group's compounds ran their scams like a factory, with workers following scripts. Understanding the playbook is the best defense, because the same pattern shows up in almost every crypto investment scam.

Stage 1 — the approach. Contact arrives from nowhere: a wrong-number text ("Hi, is this Sarah?"), a match on a dating app, a friendly comment on your social media post, or a message from someone claiming to be a successful trader. The opening is always innocent, and there is no mention of crypto for days.

Stage 2 — the trust build. The scammer becomes a daily presence. They share photos of a good life, talk about their "trading mentor," and casually mention profits. In romance-scam variants, the relationship becomes intimate. Victims later describe feeling like they had found a real friend or partner. This stage can last weeks. Patience is the scammer's biggest weapon.

Stage 3 — the first deposit and the trap. The victim is shown a professional-looking trading platform and encouraged to try a small amount — often a few hundred dollars. The dashboard shows the money growing, small withdrawals sometimes work at first, and then comes the push to go bigger: take out a loan, empty savings, invest the retirement fund. When the victim tries to withdraw a large sum, the platform blocks it. A "tax" is due. Then a "verification fee." Then a "margin call." Each payment is presented as the last one standing between the victim and their money. Some victims pay several times before realizing the truth. By then, the contact has vanished and the platform is gone.

This is not a hypothetical pattern. It is the same playbook behind the fake-NFT dating scam that led US authorities to freeze $1 billion in crypto scam money earlier this year — a case we covered in detail: US Froze $1 Billion in Crypto Scam Money: 6 Charged in Fake-NFT Dating Scam. The names and platforms change; the three stages do not.

5 Signs the Next Message in Your Inbox Is One of Theirs

Scammers succeed because each step feels reasonable on its own. The defense is pattern recognition. If you spot two or more of these signs, stop — and do not send money, no matter how convincing the story has become.

• Contact came out of nowhere. A stranger messages you first — a wrong number, a dating-app match who moves fast, a "crypto expert" who found your profile. Legitimate investment opportunities do not arrive by cold text.
• Guaranteed or unusually high returns are promised. Phrases like "60% monthly returns," "risk-free crypto profits," or "my mentor's signals never lose" are the clearest red flag in finance. Real markets do not guarantee returns, and anyone who says otherwise is lying.
• The conversation moves to a private app quickly. Scammers push victims from a dating app or social platform to WhatsApp, Telegram, or a private chat within a few messages. That move takes the conversation away from the platform's moderation and fraud detection.
• You are shown a trading dashboard you cannot verify. The platform looks professional, your balance climbs, and the profits look real — but the site is controlled by the scammer, the numbers are fake, and the "customer support" is the same person who befriended you. Before trusting any platform, check it against our guide to Is Your Crypto Safe on an Exchange? 3 Platforms Froze Accounts This Week — 5 Checks Before Your Money Gets Stuck.
• Withdrawals suddenly require extra payments. A tax, a fee, a verification deposit, a margin call — any demand for more money before you can access your own funds is the trap closing. Legitimate exchanges and brokers never charge a fee to release your own withdrawal.

One more rule that covers almost every case: never invest through a link or app sent to you by someone you met online. If you want to buy crypto, use a regulated exchange you found yourself — and keep your holdings in a wallet you control. Our evergreen guides explain how: Best Crypto Wallets in 2026: Hardware vs Software Wallets Compared and How to Store Crypto Safely in 2026: Cold Storage, Seed Phrases and Wallet Security Explained.

Timeline: Three Rounds of Sanctions Against the Same Network

The November 5 action is the third strike against Prince Group. The pattern shows how sanctions enforcement works in practice: first the leaders, then the facilitators, then the corporate shell network that kept the money moving.

Date	Action	Targets
October 14, 2025	First designations: Prince Group leadership, including founder and chairman Chen Zhi, indicted for wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.	146 entities and individuals
June 23, 2026	Second round: additional network entities and facilitators designated.	35 entities and individuals
November 5, 2026	Third round: corporate infrastructure — offshore lenders, insurers, an airline, nominee directors — plus a separate Madagascar-based scam operator.	45 targets (4 individuals, 41 companies)

The escalation matters. Sanctioning 146 entities did not kill the network; the operators rebuilt behind new companies and nominee owners. The November round goes after the layer that made rebuilding possible — the Hong Kong lenders, the BVI holding companies, the insurers, and the people who signed the paperwork. Treasury's message is that there is no safe corporate layer left to hide behind.

What This Means for Your Crypto

For most ordinary holders, this sanctions round changes nothing about how Bitcoin or Ethereum work. It targets fraud, not crypto infrastructure, and the market barely noticed — Bitcoin held near $75,900 through the weekend while the news landed. But there are three practical takeaways.

First, check where your money actually sits. The drainer attacks and exchange freezes of recent weeks are a reminder that the platform holding your coins matters as much as the coins themselves. Twelve DeFi websites were hijacked in a single night in late October to drain connected wallets — see our coverage: Crypto Wallet Drainer Attack: 12 DeFi Sites Hijacked in One Night — 5 Steps If You Connected Your Wallet. If your crypto lives on an exchange you cannot verify, move it.

Second, if you have been contacted by a suspected scammer, report it. In the US, reports go to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the FTC, and your bank should be told immediately — some wires can be recalled within days. FinCEN's $12.7 billion figure exists only because victims and banks filed reports; every report makes the next enforcement action easier.

Third, if you already sent money to a scam platform, stop paying. The "tax" and "fee" demands are not real, and paying them has never unlocked anyone's funds. Preserve every message, screenshot the platform and the wallet addresses, and report to law enforcement. Recovery is rare — the $15 billion seized in the Prince Group case is the exception, not the rule — but reporting is what makes seizures possible.

What Most People Get Wrong About Crypto Scams

The biggest misconception is that scam victims are careless or greedy. The evidence says otherwise. Pig-butchering operations employ trained workers following scripts refined over thousands of conversations, and they target educated professionals with savings — people who would never fall for a crude "send me Bitcoin and I'll double it" message. The scam works precisely because it does not look like a scam: it looks like a friendship, then a mentorship, then an investment.

The second misconception is that regulation will fix it. Sanctions, seizures, and exchange crackdowns help — $15 billion seized is real money back in the system — but the November action itself shows the limits. After 146 designations in 2025 and 35 more in June 2026, the network still needed a third round. Enforcement chases the network; it does not eliminate the business model. The only durable defense is a public that recognizes the playbook on contact.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Prince Group?

Prince Group is a Cambodia-based organization founded by Chen Zhi that US authorities designate as a transnational criminal organization. The US says it ran large-scale crypto investment scams and romance scams from compounds in Southeast Asia, often using trafficked or coerced workers. Its founder was indicted in October 2025 and extradited to China in January 2026.

How much money is involved in the Prince Group case?

The US has previously seized more than $15 billion in cryptocurrency tied to the group and its chief executive. Separately, FinCEN identified $12.7 billion in suspected financial activity linked to crypto investment scams, based on 33,904 reports filed between September 2023 and December 2025. The DOJ Scam Center Strike Force reported $580 million in crypto seizures and freezes connected to the enforcement effort.

What did the US sanction on November 5, 2026?

OFAC sanctioned four individuals — Qiu Yong, Zhao Mengyao, He Yujing, and Visal Pang — and 41 companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Singapore, Mauritius, and Malaysia, including a Hong Kong lender, an airline, and an insurer accused of helping Prince Group hide ownership. A separate Malaysian national based in Madagascar was also sanctioned for running a scam network that defrauded Americans of more than $400,000.

What is a pig-butchering scam?

Pig butchering is a long-con fraud in which a scammer builds a friendly or romantic relationship with a victim over days or weeks, then introduces a fake crypto investment platform. The victim sees fake profits, invests more, and then cannot withdraw without paying bogus taxes or fees. The name describes fattening the victim with trust before the financial slaughter.

Does this affect Bitcoin or the crypto market?

Not directly. The action targets fraud, not crypto infrastructure, and the market barely moved on the news. The impact is on enforcement: it cuts off the corporate network that laundered scam proceeds, and it signals that US authorities will keep pursuing the facilitators — lenders, insurers, and nominee directors — not just the scammers.

I think I was targeted by a crypto scam. What should I do?

Stop sending money immediately — do not pay any "tax" or "fee" to unlock a withdrawal. Preserve all messages and screenshots, note every wallet address involved, and report to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the FTC. If you sent a bank wire recently, contact your bank at once; some transfers can be recalled within days. Then move any remaining crypto to a wallet you control, following our guide to How to Store Crypto Safely in 2026.

Conclusion

The Prince Group case is the largest crypto scam enforcement story of the year — and it is still growing. The November 5 action brought the total to 226 sanctioned targets and seized funds past $15 billion, yet the playbook it targets is running right now, in inboxes and dating apps, against people who have never heard of Prince Group.

That is the real takeaway. Sanctions can seize the money and sanction the companies, but they cannot stop the next message. The five signs in this article are the part of the defense that actually scales: unsolicited contact, guaranteed returns, a fast move to a private app, an unverifiable dashboard, and a fee to withdraw your own money. Spot two of them, and walk away. Tell someone you trust. Report it.

Sources: US Department of State (November 5, 2026); US Treasury OFAC designations; Cryptopolitan; CoinLab; Blockchain Academics. For information only — not investment or legal advice.