An online marketplace administered by the Cambodian conglomerate Huione Group, Huione Guarantee, has been implicated in the facilitation of online scams in Southeast Asia.
According to a recent research report by Elliptic, the platform has facilitated transactions totaling more than $11 billion, with a substantial portion of these funds associated with money laundering and cyber frauds.
The Elliptic research team was able to quantify the cryptocurrency transactions on the Huione Guarantee using blockchain analytics.
The blockchain’s transparency enabled the monitoring and prevention of these crypto transactions.
Huione Guarantee Primarily Operates in Chinese
The marketplace is predominantly operated in Chinese and comprises many instant messaging app channels, each overseen by a distinct merchant.
These merchants provide various services that are essential for the operation of cyber schemes.
They are involved in various activities, including providing software and web development for fraudulent websites, money laundering, and the sale of personal data.
Furthermore, Huione Guarantee provides tools and equipment that are employed in the imprisonment and torture of workers in fraud compounds.
Although the platform accepts payment methods such as bank transfers and payment applications, it primarily relies on Tether, a more easily traceable cryptocurrency than traditional fiat flows.
The identification and designation of hundreds of crypto addresses associated with the platform and its merchants resulted from Elliptic’s investigation into the Huione Guarantee.
This allows exchanges and other businesses to monitor transactions and prevent the ongoing laundering of illicit funds.
Additionally, it allows law enforcement agencies to trace these payments and hold the perpetrators of the schemes accountable.
Elliptic emphasized the increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) in illicit activities, such as state-sponsored cyberattacks and deepfake schemes, in its 2024 report.
According to reports, there is an increase in the prevalence of fraudulent schemes involving deepfake videos of prominent figures, such as former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Elon Musk.
The report also disclosed discussions on dark web forums regarding the use of AI to circumvent authentication systems and reverse-engineer crypto wallet seed phrases.
These new challenges in combating and preventing fraudulent activities present new challenges for security and law enforcement agencies in the context of emergent AI-related crypto crimes.
Crypto Market Recovers Over Half of Stolen Funds in Q2
In the second quarter of 2024, the cryptocurrency market demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of adversity, attaining a record recovery rate of 77% for stolen funds.
According to Hacken’s Web3 Security Report Q2 2024, $347.4 million of the stolen crypto funds were effectively recovered or frozen out of the total $512.9 million lost.
“The amount of funds recovered is the silver lining amid the alarming rate of theft in crypto for the second consecutive quarter,” the report stated.
It is essential to acknowledge that cryptocurrency scams have flourished on X, with analysts attributing a substantial proportion of all crypto scams to fraudsters on the platform.
Scam Sniffer, a web3 anti-scam company on X, conducted an analysis that revealed that account impersonation on X.com results in a loss of nearly $50 million per month.
Binance co-founder Yi He recently expressed apprehension regarding the ongoing proliferation of cryptocurrency scams on X, querying whether Musk would take action to address the issue.