"South Korea joins growing number of countries imposing sanctions on Prince Group as probe into Cambodian scams widens", 28 November 2025

South Korea became the latest country to impose sanctions on Prince Group, a multinational network accused of running large-scale fraud operations across Southeast Asia.

Seoul’s move follows similar actions by the U.S., UK, and Singapore.

In a statement …, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the measures mark the country’s first independent sanctions regarding transnational crime and the “largest single sanction measure in history,” according to a Google translation.

“It shows the government’s firm determination to actively respond to online organized crime in Southeast Asia that is causing serious damage at home and abroad,” the statement added.

Prince Group is accused of operating large-scale online ‘scam centers’ in Cambodia and Myanmar that used trafficked workers to defraud victims around the world. South Korean sanctions target 15 people and 132 entities linked to the network.

South Korea and Cambodia agreed … to set up a joint task force to help tackle online crimes, after a university student died of torture … in a scam compound.

Prince Group has denied any wrongdoing. In a … statement issued through U.S. law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, the group called the allegations “baseless.”

“The recent allegations are baseless and appear aimed at justifying the unlawful seizure of assets worth billions of dollars,” the Cambodia-based network said, adding that it had engaged a team of lawyers from the U.S. legal powerhouse…

Another Cambodian financial network, Huione Group, was also banned from the U.S. financial system on the same day, which the U.S. Treasury Department accused in May of colluding with North Korean cybercriminals.

“Huione Group serves as a critical node for laundering proceeds of cyber heists carried out by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and for [Transnational Criminal Organizations] in Southeast Asia perpetrating virtual currency investment scams, commonly known as “pig butchering” scams, among others,” the U.S. Treasury Department said.

Seoul’s sanctions announced … also target the Huione Group…