South Korean police have rounded up dozens of people accused of laundering money for a Cambodia-based phishing operation through crypto, as a Chainalysis expert warns that the scam-compound ecosystem in Southeast Asia remains a "persistent concern" despite years of enforcement against criminal networks.
The sweep netted 33 additional suspects accused of illegally exchanging $4.1 million (6.3 billion won) in crypto, while the alleged ringleader, identified only as C, remains at large and is now the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.
Investigators also locked down roughly $431,000 (650 million won) in proceeds through pre-indictment confiscation.
A review of more than 11,300 linked accounts surfaced 265 instances of phishing harm, spanning voice phishing and investment fraud, worth $17 million (25.7 billion won).
Police urged ordinary users to tread carefully, warning that "acting as an agent for another person's virtual asset trading or exchanging virtual assets for Korean Won can also be subject to punishment."
Whack-a-moleXue Yin Peh, head of investigative strategy and collections for APAC at Chainalysis, told Decrypt that international scrutiny has produced tangible results against the "persistent problem" surrounding scam compounds and their associated illicit networks.
Meanwhile, Peh said the transnational criminal networks "have demonstrated significant flexibility and resilience," relocating within and beyond Southeast Asia and rewiring their models as scrutiny tightens.
They lean on a wider illicit ecosystem of laundering networks, infrastructure, and trafficked labor that she described as "remarkably resilient," with new providers "quickly filling gaps left by enforcement takedowns."
Stablecoins such as USDT remain the preferred vehicle for illicit flows because, as Peh noted, criminals use them "for largely the same reasons legitimate users do": liquidity, portability, and relative price stability.
On-chain transactions stay "transparent and traceable," she remarked, and issuers can freeze funds once illicit use surfaces.
Cases like this "certainly can, and already have" strengthened the argument for tighter global oversight of stablecoins, Peh said, adding that stablecoin issuers should be part of the "fraud-prevention front line" and that clearer legal frameworks are needed to help issuers, exchanges, banks, and authorities coordinate when victim funds are at risk.
Scam compound crackdown
