#online-fraud

#online-fraud

Chinese authorities on Thursday confirmed that Cambodia had extradited a tycoon accused of running a massive online scam operation. Chinese-born Chen Zhi is chairman of Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia's largest conglomerates that the US says has served as a front for "one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations." The US had indicted and sanctioned him in October on fraud and money-laundering charges over running a multibillion-dollar cyberscam network from Cambodia.

We know that at least 30% of Latinos in the United States use these groups because their phone numbers are local, starting with +1, says Roberta Braga, one of DDIA's founders and executive directors, in an audio message. The Institute focuses on the Latino community, which is why the study has this focus; it has nothing to do with Latinos being more vulnerable to falling for these types of scams, Braga explains.

During the operation, 346 foreign nationals currently under scrutiny were arrested, the daily reported. Nearly 10,000 mobile phones used in online gambling operations were also seized. It said the Yatai firm of Chinese-Cambodian alleged racketeer She Zhijiang was the entity involved in running the Shwe Kokko area. She was arrested in Thailand in 2022 and extradited last week to China, where he faces allegations of involvement in online gambling and fraud operations.

According to internal documents revealed by Reuters, users of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp see 15 billion ads a day promoting scams, from fake Trump stimulus checks to deepfakes of Elon Musk hawking cryptocurrency. The company reportedly knows this; Reuters said that its own trust and safety team estimated that one-third of scams in the US involved a Meta platform. So why hasn't Meta done more? Perhaps because these ads are apparently highly profitable, to the tune of $7 billion US or more a year.