Cambodia-based scam group on U.S. sanctions list running 3 firms in Japan
samlot chit
https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/64999
Cambodia-based scam group on U.S. sanctions list running 3 firms in Japan
Photo taken on Nov. 14, 2025, shows a building in Phnom Penh that Prince Holding Group used as its headquarters. (Kyodo)
TOKYO - A Cambodia-based Chinese firm on a U.S. sanctions list for its involvement in international fraud and human trafficking has established at least three affiliated companies in Japan since 2022, testimonies from involved individuals and documents obtained by Kyodo News showed Sunday.
Although the companies linked to Prince Holding Group list real estate sales and similar activities as their business operations, they may have been used to launder earnings from criminal activities.
According to overseas media reports, the transnational group's local subsidiaries in South Korea and Taiwan have been linked to real estate purchases and bank accounts containing large sums of money.
The findings confirm that the group, considered by the U.S. Treasury Department as one of the largest criminal organizations in Asia, has also been conducting operations in Japan.
In the past few years, losses due to online fraud and related crimes have reached $16.6 billion in the United States.
The affiliated companies in Japan include consulting firm Prince Japan, established in 2023 in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, and real estate company Canopy Sands Development Japan Co., established in 2024 in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
On Oct. 14, the United States added Prince Holding Group and its chairman, Chen Zhi, who is a Cambodian national of Chinese descent, to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list.
The group, headquartered in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, has established at least 10 large-scale dedicated scam compounds in the country. Foreigners lured by fake job postings promising high salaries are forced to engage in online fraud, illegal online gambling and other criminal activities, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
In June 2023, when applying for membership in a Japanese incorporated association, Prince Japan disclosed in an email that it was a subsidiary of Prince Holding Group.
Meanwhile, a Facebook post in November 2024 by the Cambodian Embassy in Japan introduced Canopy Sands Development Japan as belonging to the Prince group.
The companies, including another established in 2022 and headed by Chen himself, held various seminars in Japan promoting investment in high-end properties in Cambodia. They are believed to have sought to launder dirty money by selling such properties built using criminal earnings.