Imagine a market built for Pig Butchering scam operators, like a Walmart, where they could shop for everything they needed.

Well, now it exists. It’s a shadowy network of thousands of merchants willing to help pig butcherers commit crimes. According to researchers, it may have ties to the highest levels of the Cambodian government.

And no, it’s not Facebook.

The $11 Billion Platform Called Huione Guarantee

Researchers from Elliptic have uncovered an online marketplace that has become widely used by scam operators in Southeast Asia, including those involved in pig butchering. Merchants on the platform offer technology, data, and money laundering services and have engaged in transactions totaling at least $11 billion.

The online MarketPlace is called “Huione Guarantee,” and it is part of Huione Group, a Cambodian conglomerate with links to Cambodia’s ruling Hun family.

Huione Guarantee – A Huge Chinese Language MarketPlace

Researchers at Elliptic uncovered the vast Chinese-language digital bazaar known as Huione Guarantee. The sprawling online marketplace, whose name translates to “汇旺担保,” operates through a labyrinth of instant messaging channels, each run by individual merchants.

At the heart of the operation is Huione Guarantee, which serves as both platform operator and transaction guarantor. This dual role aims to mitigate fraud risks and organize the payments.

Despite claiming to be a neutral platform, most services are targeted at cyber scam operators who run Pig Butchering operations. The platform started in 2021 as a seemingly legitimate service for selling cars and real estate.

But now, the services run the gamut and are everything scam compounds need to carry out their scam operations:

• Laundering sex extortion and pig butchering proceeds
• Accepting victims payments
• Selling AI voice clones to fool victims
• Building fake crypto websites that victims interact with
• Selling torture devices to use on scam workers
• Selling Telecom equipment to be used in scam operations

The platform appears to be a sprawling network of thousands of Telegram Channels – many of which are private – but they all tie back to Huione Guarantee.

Some of the products being offered on Huione Guarantee include electric shock shackles and electric batons. These are used to manage the slaves trying to escape the scam compounds.

Services offered on Huione Guarantee include creating fake crypto apps and websites designed to trick victims into depositing their money into crypto investments and then showing those investments rising over time.

The Platform Appears To Launder Billions in Crypto

One of the issues for Pig Butchering operators is receiving, hiding, and laundering the millions of dollars in scam money they receive each day. And according to Elliptic, that is where the platform comes in.

According to Elliptic, the largest category of merchants operating on Huione Guarantee are those offering to move and exchange money. Many of the merchants explicitly offer money laundering services, including accepting payments from victims around the world, transferring them across borders, and converting them to other assets, including cash, stablecoins, and Chinese payment apps.

Most specify the types of fraud proceeds they are willing to launder based on the perceived risk of having the funds frozen by financial institutions or law enforcement.

Elliptics analysis shows that cryptocurrency wallets used by Huione Guarantee have received well over $11 billion dollars since 2021. According to them, this only represents a small fraction of what the platform has laundered.

While 100% of these crypto transactions may not be related to fraud, Elliptics research suggests that most of it is due to the nature of products and services being offered on the platform.

Links To Huione Group And Even Prime Minister of Cambodia

While Huione Guarantee has all the hallmarks of operating like a darknet marketplace, the platform has ties to a large conglomerate called Huione Group; in particular, it appears to be linked to Huione Pay.

One of the directors of Huione Pay is Hun To, a cousin of the current Cambodian prime minister, Hun Manet. Hun To has reportedly been suspected of heroin trafficking and money laundering by Australian Police. He has also been linked to Chinese organized crime and a scam compound.

The existence of these crypto scamming marketplaces appears to go all the way to the top of the Cambodian government.