Chinese national extradited to United States over cryptocurrency scam

A Chinese national was extradited from the Netherlands and appeared in a California federal court on Friday over an alleged cryptocurrency investment scam, UPI reported. Zheng Zhao, who is 44 years old, was arraigned in the Central District of California on a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering. [1]

According to UPI, citing the Department of Justice, Zhao allegedly participated in an international criminal network operating through scam centers in Cambodia. The network targeted victims in the United States with fraudulent cryptocurrency investments that laundered tens of millions of dollars from a 36.9 million dollar scam. [1]

Scam centers in Cambodia are clandestine fraud operations controlled by international organized criminal networks that specialize in online fraud. Policy analysis characterizes Cambodia as a global epicenter of trafficking-linked cyber-fraud, generating an estimated 12.5 billion to 19 billion dollars annually. [2]

The extradition follows wider international efforts to combat Asian scam syndicates. As FTMQ News reported earlier, a Chinese court sentenced three Myanmar syndicate members to death for operating telecommunications scam networks, while United Kingdom authorities froze a London penthouse linked to an alleged Chinese scam chief. [3][4]