UK, US Freeze London Assets Tied to Southeast Asia Scammers

A crackdown on one of Asia’s most prolific online fraud networks has spilled into London’s luxury property market.

Both British and U.S. authorities have moved to freeze real estate tied to Chen Zhi, the Chinese tycoon accused of running a web of forced-labor scam centers across Southeast Asia. The U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said Tuesday that it joined the United States in sanctioning Zhi and his conglomerate, the Prince Group, which investigators link to elaborate global fraud operations that exploit trafficked workers.

“The masterminds behind these horrific scam centres are ruining the lives of vulnerable people and buying up London homes to store their money,” Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement.

The coordinated sanctions target a portfolio of London assets purchased through offshore entities, including a $16 million mansion on Avenue Road, a $134 million office tower on Fenchurch Street in the City district and 17 apartments spread between New Oxford Street and Nine Elms in South London.

Addresses for the properties being sanctioned were not disclosed by the government, but multiple reports put the office building at 10 Fenchurch Street, which was reportedly acquired in 2020.

The sanctions immediately freeze Chen’s U.K.-based properties and companies, blocking access to any proceeds or transactions through the country’s financial system, according to British authorities.

The holdings illustrate how criminal syndicates have funneled illicit earnings from cyber scams into Western real estate, a pattern regulators have struggled to police despite years of “dirty money” reforms.

The Prince Group and its affiliates, including Jin Bei Group and Golden Fortune Resorts World, allegedly built casinos and compounds in Cambodia used to house scam operations disguised as “technology parks.”

The groups are accused of trafficking foreign workers to run crypto and romance-investment scams, then laundering proceeds through complex webs of shell companies and crypto exchanges such as Byex Exchange.

Fraud Minister Lord Hanson said that the move signals Britain’s intent to keep criminal capital off its streets.