The Republic of Singapore Police Force has seized S$150 million (~RM 483 million) in assets belonging to the Prince Group involved in a pig slaughter fraud in Cambodia. The seizure included six properties, bank accounts, cash, 11 cars, liquor and a yacht.
This is the largest asset seizure involving the Prince Group this year. Last month, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) seized $15 billion (~RM 63 billion) worth of Bitcoin from a crypto wallet used by a syndicate operating in Cambodia.
The Bitcoin is owned by Chen Zhi, who heads the Prince Group. From the outside, the Prince Group, which was established in 2015, operates as a real estate and finance company but it is just a ruse to cover up the real operation of committing online fraud.
In addition to defrauding victims using the “pig slaughter” technique, the Prince Group is also involved in human trafficking crimes with individuals who are deceived into giving them luxury jobs and being held as slaves to carry out the operation.
The pig slaughter scam gets its name because the victim will be groomed by criminals in the initial stages before being tricked into handing over large sums of money, similar to how farmers groom pigs that are then slaughtered.
