Tether freezes $28m in USDT linked to Cambodian fraud

Tether has reportedly frozen a Tron (TRX) wallet containing over 28 million USDT tokens suspected of being proceeds from criminal activities, including money laundering and fraud.

A dedicated real-time monitoring account for Tron and Ethereum (ETH) stablecoins, USDT/USDC Blacklist, reported on July 13 that an address, identified as TNVaKW, had been blacklisted by Tether with $28.25 million in USDT.

The wallet is suspected to be linked to Cambodian firm Huione Group. Blockchain security firm Bitrace revealed in a July 14 post on X that the frozen wallet, which was activated on July 9, is linked to the business of Huione Group’s subsidiary Guarantee.

Analysis by Bitrace indicated that Huione was attempting to bypass the freeze by activating a new address, TQuFSv, and transferring $114,800 in USDC from the frozen TNVaKW wallet.

Furthermore, according to Bitrace, despite Tether’s action, Huione’s other business addresses, including its old business address TL8TBp, are still operational.

Huione Guarantee Linked to Cryptocurrency Scams

On July 10, Elliptic, another prominent cryptocurrency tracking company, announced that Reported Regarding Huione Guarantee’s involvement in fraudulent activities, especially pig slaughtering.

According to Elliptic, the online marketplace has emerged as a major hub for fraud in Southeast Asia, and has been linked to criminal transactions totaling at least $11 billion.

Elliptic claims that the Cambodia-based company operates as a deposit and custodial service for peer-to-peer transactions on Telegram, primarily using Tether’s USDT stablecoin. This appears to have made it a favorite platform for scammers and money launderers.

Furthermore, the blockchain analysis firm claimed that Huione Guarantee was linked to the ruling family in Cambodia, including Prime Minister Hun Manet.

In response to the report, law enforcement and blockchain analysts began working to disrupt Huone’s operations by tracking crypto transactions and identifying wallets associated with the platform.

The freeze on Tether highlights ongoing efforts to crack down on cryptocurrency fraud and the complex web of financial crimes facilitated by seemingly legitimate crypto platforms.