SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The Department of Justice has seized a record $15 billion in Bitcoin from a cyber fraud operation based in Cambodia that targeted Americans. An investigator from San Jose is very familiar with this case. She visited one of the alleged scammer’s overseas compounds earlier this year, and now, she’s sharing her videos with the I-Team’s Dan Noyes.
The Department of Justice has indicted 38-year-old Chinese national, Chen Zhi, for wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy, and labeled his conglomerate of companies based out of Cambodia called the Prince Group as a “transnational criminal organization.”
The government seized 127,000 Bitcoin from Chen’s accounts, worth $15 billion at the time – much of it received from unsuspecting American victims.
Cyber fraud investigator Erin West told the I-Team, “If you can grab 15 billion of this, then how much has gone through that man’s wallet? How much has he stolen? If we were able to take back 15 billion.”
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West is very familiar with Chen Zhi and his operations. The attorney retired from Santa Clara County’s fraud unit and launched her nonprofit, Shamrock, to help victims. West visited one of Chen’s compounds in Cambodia earlier this year.
Erin West: “They’re filled, these whole dormitories are filled with people. You can see their laundry, you can see them inside, but there’s no cars because nobody’s going anywhere.”
Dan Noyes: “They’re being held there.”
West: “They’re being held captive. This is modern day slavery. These are people that are being held against their will and being forced to scam 16 hours a day.”
The cyber scam compound is disguised as an apartment building, even advertising rentals.
Guard: “What, what do you want?”
Journalist: “I wanted to ask someone about renting a… renting an apartment.”
West and her journalist friends approached the guard.
Journalist: “So, this one is what business?”
Guard: “No, no, no.”
Journalist: “What’s inside here?”
Chen employed violence to keep the workers in line, the indictment saying he kept photographs depicting some of his methods. The complaint also includes a picture of a rack with thousands of cellphones.
“Sending out contact after contact,” West said. “And once there’s a communication, once somebody wants to talk, then that gets forwarded to a regular person to continue that communication.”
Then, the process called “pig-butchering” begins in which the scammer grooms a victim over days, weeks or months. “A typical romance scam and then after that, we will have shown you all along that the person you think you’re in love with is a wealthy person and ultimately will say, ‘Well, do you know why I’m so wealthy? It’s because I invest in cryptocurrency and I’ll teach you how to do that.'”
Last year, West also visited a cyber fraud compound that had been busted in the Philippines. On the scene, she said, “It’s more than 35 buildings and was designed and built for the sole purpose of scamming.”
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She toured the opulent boss’ quarters with bill counters, the massive pool, the luxury cars – a Maybach and armor-plated Range Rover. And she saw the torture room for the human-trafficked workers.
“They chain them up,” a guide said. “After chaining them up, they beat them up.”
While the bust in Cambodia is a good step with that record $15 billion haul, West cautions victims here about getting their hopes up for seeing their money again. “I think we need to be really cautious about setting expectations about the return of that money to victims. This is a federal case. It will go through the legal system. And I don’t think it’s clear right now exactly who will be getting that money.”
The investigations move forward. The indictment says Chen Zhi operated dozens of business entities in more than 30 countries and that he paid bribes to foreign public officials.
Take a look at more stories by the ABC7 News I-Team.
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