$520,000,000 in Suspicious Crypto Transactions Involving 32 Blockchains Discovered As Elliptic Exposes Massive Scam Network
A joint investigation by the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic and Thailand’s police force has uncovered more than half a billion dollars in suspicious crypto transactions across Southeast Asia.
Elliptic’s Asia-Pacific Intelligence team partnered with the Royal Thai Police’s High-Tech Crime Division (HTCD) in a data-sharing initiative focused on cases involving crypto theft, scams, and money laundering.
An analysis of over 500 reported suspicious crypto wallets, linked to nearly $14 million in individual victim losses, revealed a large network of activities involving incoming crypto transactions worth $520 million.
The criminal activities including crypto asset thefts (wallet hacks and credential thefts), professional money laundering, and fraud schemes such as pig butchering scams and addresses linked to organized criminal network compounds in Cambodia and Myanmar.
“The cyber scam networks in Myanmar and Cambodia are known for their resourcefulness and ability to adapt in the face of disruption. Being able to trace their latest on-chain behaviors enables compliance professionals and wider law enforcement in the region to proactively mitigate emerging risks and laundering typologies,” Elliptic said.
The criminal proceeds were spread across 32 blockchains, including Ethereum (ETH), Tron (TRX), and Bitcoin (BTC). Criminals notably used decentralized exchanges (DEXs), cross-chain bridges, and instant swap exchanges that do not typically require know your customer (KYC) checks.
Laundering the funds involved converting niche stolen tokens into mainstream assets, obfuscating the funds through chain-hopping, and moving out from freezable stablecoins to avoid blacklisting.