The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on Thursday sanctioned Xinbi, a Chinese-language online marketplace that sells stolen data and satellite internet equipment to scam networks in Southeast Asia, and also targeted a large scam compound known as #8 Park and its operator Legend Innovation Co., the FCDO said.
The blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis said Xinbi processed more than $19.9 billion between 2021 and 2025 and facilitated unlicensed over-the-counter trades, money laundering and the sale of stolen personal databases. Chainalysis also linked the marketplace to efforts by North Korean actors to launder cryptocurrency stolen in large heists.
The FCDO said its measures are intended to isolate Xinbi from the legitimate cryptocurrency ecosystem by disrupting its ability to send and receive payments. The department cited the shutdown of the Byex Exchange after that platform was sanctioned the previous year as an example of the intended effect after being sanctioned by the U.K. last year.
Scam centres across Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are described as criminal-run operations, often run by Chinese crime syndicates that coerce people into working in large-scale fraud schemes. Those centres typically use stolen information bought on marketplaces such as Xinbi to contact targets through social media, messaging apps and dating sites and lure them into fake investment and romance scams.
Stephen Doughty, the U.K.’s Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories, said the sanctions send a clear message that Britain will not tolerate the human rights abuses and criminality associated with the scam centres and pledged continued action against illicit finance.
The FCDO said the action follows a previous wave of seizures, asset freezes and shutdowns in October 2025 after it and the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Cambodian Prince Group crime ring and its leader, Chen Zhi; U.S. authorities also seized $15 billion in bitcoin tied to the case and Zhi remains at large.