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DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

cnbc.com

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Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#261

Post by PaywallBuster »

pyrale wrote: post #75
yhager wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cambodia's specifically 30-50% of the economy can be directly attributed to scamming plus casinos Are you saying that 30-50% of Cambodia's economy can be directly attributed to scamming and casinos? I find that shocking and hard to believe. Do you have a source for that statement?

First off, the amount seized was not necessarily made in a year. Second, most of the money would not make it to the Cambodian economy. It is likely laundered abroad. The whole operation is likely multinational, with only the workforce located in Cambodia.

Cambodia is also big player in money laundering

(not only for these cambodia originated crimes)

Also keep in mind all the bribes, all the money laundering mentioned in the article by the 100s of affiliated subsidiares of the criminal group all in Cambodia

the big casinos which directly and indirectly support additional laundering

https://www.fincen.gov/system/files/2025-10/Huione-Group-Fin...

https://www.kharon.com/brief/huione-group-cambodia-treasury-...

Every business has revenue / costs

The indictment mentions they were doing 30M/day ~ 10B / year, could be an old message when they were smaller

Guessing that's revenue

They're just one of many organizations in the "industry"

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#262

Post by zahlman »

bugbuddy wrote: post #239
timtom123 wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spent significant time in Vietnam & Cambodia & Thailand. Cambodia is a sad country full of desperate people. "less-policed" is the entire country. ~50 years since https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide . Vietnam was by far my favorite of the three and the contrast between the three countries is stark.

[flagged]

> To call a country full of any type of people is the definition of racism.

"The USA is full of people who believe in freedom of speech". Racist?

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#263

Post by shkkmo »

bilekas wrote: post #100
IanCal wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not necessarily true, though may be for Cambodia. GDP can include black market activities but countries differ in whether they include specific ones and how.

Right, it's not black market if you eventually pay some taxes on it somewhere. Dare we call it washed money, and for our American friends in the audience, laundered money.

Laundering the proceeds from a black market transaction doesn't make the black market transaction not a black market transaction.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#264

Post by zahlman »

mrtksn wrote: post #111

It's 127,271 Bitcoins. Interesting choice not to mention the number of Bitcoins but use its current market value in USD. I feel like this says something about Bitcoin but not sure what exactly. Edit: Wow, people really don't want to know how many Bitcoins were seized :)

It could be more or less meaningful depending on how long the operation has been running, I suppose. That would impact on the integral of the value that was expropriated, as of the time of expropriation.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#265

Post by zahlman »

JonChesterfield wrote: post #146

The point of bitcoin was that it can't be taken off you by the state. So either this was severe user error, to the tune of why aren't the keys somewhere secure when there's a billion dollars behind them, or the nominal reason for bitcoin existing is nonsense. We thinking user error or crypto is nonsense? On the forum I expect the former.

> The point of bitcoin was that it can't be taken off you by the state.

The point of a "pig butchering scam" is that victims are socially engineered into giving their assets (in this case, bitcoin) to someone else.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#266

Post by FuriouslyAdrift »

ctxc wrote: post #235
parthdesai wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Spent significant time in Vietnam & Cambodia & Thailand. Cambodia is a sad country full of desperate people. Probably should also include which country is responsible for the current condition of the country. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1175241-once-you-ve-been-to...

Content: "Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his geni…

And we dropped more bombs on poor Laos (mostly because pilots weren't supposed to land back at base with bombs still on board) than on Japan and Germany combined... they estimate it will take about 600 years to removed all the unexploded cluster bombs and children regurly get maimed and killed by them (they look like tennis balls).

The Chin, Hmong, and Lao are some of the nicest people you will ever meet, too.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#267

Post by butterfi »

Reason077 wrote: post #62

Wow. $15 billion is an astronomical, nearly unfathomable amount of money in Cambodia. This must have been a huge operation. It's almost 1/3 of the country's entire GDP! Well done DOJ. Hopefully the victims get their money back.

I'm very curious what happens to that money. I very much doubt any of the actual victims will see it.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#268

Post by bugbuddy »

skrebbel wrote: post #253
bugbuddy wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> * To call a country full of any type of people is the definition of racism* This is bullshit. This kind of stuff isn’t black and white. Am I racist for calling Monaco a place full of rich people? Of course not, I’m describing the situation people are in, not their characters. Same holds here.

[flagged]

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#270

Post by cindyllm »

bugbuddy wrote: post #268
skrebbel wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * To call a country full of any type of people is the definition of racism* This is bullshit. This kind of stuff isn’t black and white. Am I racist for calling Monaco a place full of rich people? Of course not, I’m describing the situation people are in, not their characters. Same holds here.

[flagged]

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