Cambodia's Huione Guarantee Allegedly Fueled $11 Billion in Global Fraud, Users Mainly Trade in USDT

July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Huione Guarantee, an online financial platform linked to Cambodia's ruling family, is suspected of fueling the global fraud economy, particularly piggy bank fraud, to the tune of $11 billion, according to CoinDesk, citing its own research and crypto-tracking firm Elliptic. The platform provides deposit and escrow services for peer-to-peer transactions via the Telegram messaging system, and the services listed include deep counterfeiting fraud, money laundering, and piggy bank fraud. Users primarily trade with USDT, the world's largest stablecoin, and Elliptic says it is able to track the flow of funds.

Tom Robinson, Elliptic's co-founder and chief scientist, said it's uncertain whether Huione Guarantee was originally set up for this purpose, but it has certainly become a major marketplace for cyber fraudsters. According to Elliptic, Huione Guarantee is part of the Cambodian Huione Group, which is linked to Cambodia's ruling Hun family, including Prime Minister Hun Manet.CoinDesk has tried unsuccessfully to contact officials at Huione Guarantee, and the Telegram address on the site is down and has not received an email responses. The Cambodian Council of Ministers' Office also did not respond to an email seeking comment. The website contains a disclaimer stating that it is not involved in or aware of the customer's specific business and is only responsible for guaranteeing that both parties to a transaction receive the goods and payment for them.

In addition, in May, companies including Coinbase, Kraken, Meta, Ripple, Tinder, and Hinge formed the "Tech Against Fraud" coalition to protect users. In January, Tether, the issuer of USDT, expressed concern when the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime cited the prevalence of USDT as a medium for money laundering, and a Tether spokesperson said today that when blockchain analysts choose to publicize their findings rather than engaging directly with counterparties, it can contribute to the bystander effect, whereby people who observe wrongdoing but choose to document it gain attention and notoriety on social media. media to gain attention and notoriety, rather than prioritizing intervention.