meta_id 3262927

On June 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury took coordinated action to disrupt the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization (Prince Group TCO), a Southeast Asia-based criminal enterprise targeting Americans through large-scale cyber-enabled fraud and scam operations. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned nine individuals and 26 entities linked to Prince Group TCO, including leadership, investors in scam compounds, and front companies. In parallel, Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed amending its October 2025 Huione Group Final Rule to include H-Pay Service PLC and any successor entity, which served as a critical node for laundering proceeds of cyber heists and virtual currency investment scams used by Prince Group TCO. Treasury estimates that Americans lost at least $10 billion in 2024 to Southeast Asia-based scam operations, a 66 percent increase over the prior year. The most common schemes involve digital asset investment fraud, where perpetrators use text messages and false promises of romantic relationships to gain victims' trust before directing them to fraudulent investment platforms controlled by scammers. Prince Group TCO members own and operate scam compounds where coerced workers target U.S. and international victims. Today's action targets Hu Xiaowei, described as Prince Group TCO's "second-in-command," and his network of companies across the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. The designations block all property and interests in property of designated persons within the United States or in U.S. persons' possession or control. These actions build on Treasury's October 2025 designation of Prince Group TCO and are taken pursuant to Executive Order 13581 ("Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations"), as amended. They further Treasury's implementation of President Trump's Executive Order 14390 of March 6, 2026, "Combating Cybercrime, Fraud, and Predatory Schemes Against American Citizens." FinCEN's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is available for public comment within 30 days of publication in the Federal Register.