The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (**FCDO**) has taken decisive action against **Xinbi**, a Chinese-language online marketplace operating via Telegram. This marketplace is known for trafficking in stolen data and satellite internet equipment, primarily serving scam networks in Southeast Asia. ### Xinbi's Role in Cryptocurrency Laundering **Xinbi** is also suspected of assisting North Korean threat actors in laundering cryptocurrency obtained from large-scale heists targeting companies and individuals globally. According to **Chainalysis**, a blockchain analysis firm, **Xinbi** has processed over $19.9 billion between 2021 and 2025. This includes facilitating unlicensed OTC trades, money laundering, and the sale of stolen personal databases. ### Targeting Scam Compounds Today's sanctions also target **#8 Park**, a large-scale scam compound linked by **Elliptic** to the **Prince Group** crime ring, and **Legend Innovation Co**, the operator of **#8 Park**. "Today the government has stepped up its fight against these scam centres, targeting the owners and operators of a recently identified facility known as '#8 Park,' believed to be Cambodia's largest scam compound, with capacity to accommodate 20,000 trafficked workers," the **FCDO** said. "The UK is also the first country to sanction **Xinbi**, one of the largest illicit marketplaces in Southeast Asia, which provides cryptocurrency-based services to scam centres – including #8 Park." ### Disrupting Illicit Operations The **FCDO's** sanctions aim to isolate **Xinbi** from the legitimate crypto ecosystem, disrupting its operations by preventing it from sending or receiving cryptocurrency payments. This strategy proved effective when the **Byex Exchange** cryptocurrency platform shut down after being sanctioned by the U.K. last year.  *Xinbi connections with other illicit services and platforms (Chainalysis)* ### The Pig Butchering Connection Scam centers in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos are often run by Chinese crime syndicates. These operations coerce individuals, many of whom are foreigners, into participating in large-scale criminal schemes. Victims worldwide are targeted in cryptocurrency investment scams, also known as "pig butchering" or romance baiting. These scammers typically contact targets through social media, messaging apps, and dating sites, using stolen information acquired from platforms like **Xinbi** to lure victims into fake investment opportunities. The scammers then steal the money by transferring it to accounts under their control rather than investing it. ### A Strong Message "Our sanctions today send a clear message: We will not allow British people to become victims of these dreadful scams or tolerate the awful human rights abuses perpetrated in these scam centres," said Stephen Doughty, the U.K.'s Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories. "We must keep up the pressure on dirty money and those who benefit from it. At the Illicit Finance Summit in June, the UK will drive international action to tackle the ways in which ill-gotten profits are laundered and moved around the world." This action follows previous seizures, asset freezes, and shutdowns of hundreds of scam centers in October 2025. These earlier actions were taken after the **FCDO** and the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (**OFAC**) jointly sanctioned the Cambodian **Prince Group** crime ring and its leader, Chen Zhi. The U.S. Department of Justice also seized $15 billion in bitcoin from Zhi, who remains at large.