HuiOne Assurance: The $11 Billion Cybercrime Center of Southeast Asia
Experts in digital currencies have illuminated an internet marketplace named HuiOne Assurance which is broadly utilized by cyber offenders in Southeast Asia, specifically those associated with pig processing hoaxes.
“Traders on the site provide technology, data, and money laundering services, and have conducted transactions amounting to a minimum of $11 billion,” Elliptic revealed in a report presented to The Hacker News.
The UK-based blockchain analysis firm mentioned that the trading platform is a segment of HuiOne Group, a Cambodian conglomerate connected to the Cambodian Hun family’s governance, with another business under HuiOne, HuiOne Global Transfers, deeply involved in funneling scam earnings around the world.
As stated on its portal, HuiOne’s financial services division reportedly has 500,000 registered users. The platform also lists Alipay, Huawei, PayGo Wallet, UnionPay, and Yes Seatel among its clientele.
Nations in Southeast Asia like Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Philippines have transformed into a nurturing environment for pig processing deceptions lately.
In these ploys, unsuspecting individuals from Asia and Africa are lured with lucrative employment opportunities in the locality, only to find themselves ensnared within “fraudulent estates” managed by transnational criminal organizations originating from China and compelled to participate in deceitful practices.
These involve establishing counterfeit profiles on social media and dating sites, and utilizing them to build romantic connections with victims and eventually convincing them to invest in non-existent cryptocurrency enterprises with the goal of draining their finances.
HuiOne Assurance, founded in 2021, consists of a network of numerous instant messaging app channels on Telegram managed by diverse traders. Although it professes to function as an online marketplace for property and vehicles, Elliptic stated that the majority of the commodities and amenities offered are tailored for internet scam operators.
“The biggest segment of merchants operating on HuiOne Assurance are those providing money moving and exchanging services,” the corporation elaborated.
“Numerous traders explicitly provide money laundering services, which include receiving payments from victims across the world, transferring it internationally, and changing it into various assets such as cash, stablecoins, and Chinese payment apps.”
Traders have also been identified advertising software and web development amenities that aid in establishing deceitful cryptocurrency investment websites used in pig processing hoaxes, alongside promoting tear gas, stun batons, and electronic restraints for use by estate operators in imprisoning and mistreating their laborers.
As per data shared by SlowMist earlier in January, traders affiliated with HuiOne Assurance – also referred to as Huiwang Assurance – have reportedly engaged in cryptocurrency deals with a wallet that received over 4.6 million USDT from another wallet linked to the Myanmar Alliance Army.
“The cryptocurrency value received by HuiOne Assurance and its traders, along with the type of products and services offered, indicate that it plays a crucial role in aiding cyber scam operators in Southeast Asia,” Elliptic concluded.
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