In a groundbreaking investigation, The New York Times has peeled back the curtain on one of the world’s most elusive criminal enterprises: money laundering. Titled “The Scammer’s Manual: How to Launder Money and Get Away With It,” the report, published today, March 23, 2025, exposes the intricate networks that transform illicit gains into seemingly legitimate wealth, often right under the noses of global authorities. As the Times reveals, this shadowy ecosystem thrives in places like Cambodia, where scammers and their financial facilitators operate with alarming impunity.
The New York Times investigation, spearheaded by reporters Selam Gebrekidan and Joy Dong, uncovers a “hydra-headed” system so efficient that it has outwitted efforts by the FBI, Interpol, and China’s Ministry of Public Security. “Every few weeks, fireworks light up the night sky in Cambodia, set off by scammers to salute their biggest swindles,” the Times writes, painting a vivid picture of a criminal underworld that celebrates its victories with audacity. These aren’t petty thieves but sophisticated operators who prey on unsuspecting victims worldwide, siphoning off “tens of billions of dollars each year” through romance scams, fake cryptocurrency exchanges, and other ruses.
A Step-by-Step Playbook for Laundering Loot
The New York Times articulated a chilling reality: scammers rely on a meticulously crafted playbook to “scrub” their profits of criminal origins. The process begins with a “matchmaker”—a trusted intermediary who connects scammers with a global network of “money mules.” These mules, often unwitting individuals or shell companies, shuttle funds through bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets at lightning speed. “A good matchmaker has a worldwide network of people… who can move money within hours,” the Times explains, citing a cache of documents described as a “money-laundering handbook.”
For example, imagine a scammer nets $40,000 from a victim in the United States. The New York Times further noted in its article that the matchmaker takes a cut—typically “15 percent of the proceeds”—before deploying mules to fragment and reroute the funds. From there, the money might bounce through multiple countries, often landing in hubs like Phnom Penh or Sihanoukville, Cambodia—cities the Times identifies as “global clearinghouses for money launderers.” This rapid movement, often cloaked by cryptocurrency transactions, makes tracing the funds a near-impossible task for law enforcement.
Cambodia: The Epicenter of Illicit Finance
The Times investigation zeroes in on Cambodia as a nerve center for this illicit economy. In Sihanoukville, seaside restaurants teem with “money launderers and other criminals doing business over spicy Chinese food,” while fortified compounds and unfinished high-rises house call centers buzzing with scam operations. The New York Times obtained documents and interviewed nearly a half-dozen insiders, revealing how these hubs operate with impunity, even as international agencies scramble to dismantle them.
One name stands out: Huione, a Cambodian company linked to large-scale criminal enterprises. According to the Times, analytics firms like Elliptic and Chainalysis have tied Huione’s clients to a Myanmar group exploiting human trafficking victims, with cryptocurrency trades amounting to “$26.8 billion” since 2021. Shockingly, “this money-laundering network operates with impunity,” the Times reports, noting that no government has yet imposed sanctions on the group.
The Global Fallout—and Failure to Act
The scale of this problem is staggering. The New York Times estimates that victims lose “tens of billions of dollars each year,” a figure echoed by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which reported $12.5 billion in losses from online scams in 2023 alone. Yet, as the Times underscores, the laundering networks remain resilient, popping up elsewhere whenever authorities strike. “The money-laundering system is so hydra-headed that when governments strike it in one place, it pops up in another,” the article states—a damning indictment of global enforcement efforts.
This isn’t just a Cambodian issue. A Washington Post report from December 2024 highlighted how scammers exploit emotional vulnerabilities to extract funds, a tactic that feeds directly into the laundering pipelines exposed by the Times. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice has ramped up actions against “money mules,” prosecuting individuals who unknowingly—or knowingly—aid these schemes, though such efforts barely dent the broader network.
Why It Persists: A Broken System
The New York Times articulated a sobering truth: the persistence of these operations stems from their efficiency and the world’s fragmented response. Banks issue warnings, telecoms block numbers, yet the scammers adapt. The Times points to an “online bazaar” where criminals openly hire launderers—a marketplace Elliptic links to billions in illicit crypto trades. “The industry is so opaque that it is difficult to separate legitimate transactions from illegal ones,” the article notes, exposing a regulatory blind spot that criminals exploit.
Experts agree. “The global financial system is riddled with gaps that sophisticated criminals navigate with ease,” said John Cassara, a former U.S. Treasury special agent and author of Trade-Based Money Laundering, in an interview with The Eastern Herald. Cassara’s work aligns with the New York Times findings, emphasizing how trade-based laundering and cryptocurrency have supercharged these schemes.
A Call for Accountability
The New York Times investigation is more than an exposé—it’s a clarion call. As governments lag, the burden falls on financial institutions and tech platforms to disrupt these networks. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body combating money laundering, has urged stricter oversight of cryptocurrency exchanges—a recommendation that resonates with the Times revelations. Yet, without coordinated action, the fireworks in Cambodia will keep bursting, saluting a criminal enterprise that shows no signs of slowing.
For now, The New York Times has given us a rare glimpse into “The Scammer’s Manual”—a blueprint for laundering money and getting away with it. The question remains: will the world finally rewrite the ending?
