The Hidden Exchange of Cybercrime: How Huibang Group Fuels a Billion-Dollar Fraud Industry

Recently, a corporate group named Huiwang has attracted the attention of global law enforcement agencies. This company, based in Cambodia, ostensibly operates legitimate financial services, but in reality, it is a massive underground trading platform that facilitates online fraud and money laundering.

According to the U.S. Treasury, Huobi has laundered at least $4 billion in fraud and cryptocurrency theft proceeds. This figure may just be the tip of the iceberg. Estimates from blockchain analysis firms suggest that the scale of suspicious funds flowing through the Huobi platform could reach hundreds of billions of dollars.

The core business of Huiwang is to operate a large number of trading groups on instant messaging applications, providing various illegal goods and services for cybercriminals, including counterfeit currency, money laundering, hacking techniques, etc. These groups use special jargon, such as "liaozhu" referring to a person holding stolen money, and "goutui" referring to fraud park employees.

In Cambodia, Huiwang also operates an online banking service called "Huiwang Payment," claiming to be "the Alipay of Cambodia." However, this is just part of its vast business network. Huiwang is actually a complex network composed of multiple affiliated companies, including cryptocurrency exchanges and online escrow trading platforms.

In May of this year, the U.S. Treasury announced plans to completely exclude Huobi from the U.S. financial system. Subsequently, Thailand also launched an investigation into Huobi, suspecting its involvement in handling illegal gambling and fraud funds. Telegram shut down dozens of groups related to Huobi, and Tether froze nearly $30 million USDT associated with Huobi.

In response to regulatory pressure, Huiwang has implemented a series of countermeasures. Some businesses announced closures, but in reality, they have been rebranded to continue operations. For example, customers of the original "Haowang Guarantee" platform have been directed to the new platform "Potato Guarantee". Users of the cryptocurrency exchange Huione Crypto have been directed to a new service provider called Kex.

The continued existence of Huiwang highlights the difficulty of combating decentralized criminal markets. The group is adept at finding regulatory loopholes, with operations spanning multiple countries. Internal documents reveal that Huiwang's "money mule" network covers victims in at least 12 countries.

The core of Huiwang is a secret department called "Huiwang International Payment." According to insiders, this department is directly involved in assisting fraudulent activities, connecting criminals and money launderers for a fee. Internal documents detail the information of thousands of victims and transactions amounting to tens of millions of dollars.

These documents use an encoding system to track money launderers and scam gangs, showing the wide scope and complexity of their operations. For example, the scam gang targeting Europe is coded as "EZ," while the one targeting the United States is coded as "US." The documents also record detailed information about the victims, including bank account details.

Some executives of Huitong have close ties with the Cambodian elite. For example, a cousin of the Prime Minister was once a director of Huitong Payment. This relationship may be one of the reasons why Huitong has not been subjected to strict scrutiny in Cambodia for a long time.

Despite facing pressure from various parties, Huiwang seems to be managing to maintain its operations. It has launched its own stablecoin USDH, claiming to be "not subject to traditional regulatory constraints." Experts believe that cybercrime has become deeply embedded in the operation of global capitalism, making it difficult to eradicate easily. The case of Huiwang highlights the challenges of combating such crimes.