Judge hits Chinese crypto scammer who helped swindle $37 million from U.S. victims with 46 month sentence

people with masks over their faces sit cross-legged, crowded next to each other (Credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Jingliang Su, a Chinese national, faces almost four years in prison for his role in crypto fraud that relied on befriending Americans on social media, then winning their trust in order to fleece them. He laundered about $37 million from 174 U.S. victims via scam centers in Cambodia, according to a statement released by the Department of Justice on Tuesday. In June, Su pleaded guilty to conspiracy to operate an illegal money transmitting business. 

The sentencing follows a year in which mostly Chinese scammers stole a record $17 billion from regular people. Scam centers have become notorious in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, and recent kidnappings in the region have been linked to these fraud hubs.