$73M Crypto Scammer Gets 20 Years After Cutting Ankle Monitor and Fleeing

A federal judge just sentenced a fugitive to 20 years in prison. The catch? He's not there to serve it. Daren Li cut off his ankle monitor in December and vanished, leaving behind $73 million in stolen cryptocurrency and dozens of victims who may never see their money again.

The Cambodia Connection: A $30 Million Daily Industry

Li, a dual citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis, orchestrated his scheme from Cambodia-based scam compounds that have become the epicenter of "pig butchering" cryptocurrency fraud. These operations generate over $30 million daily through forced labor, according to TRM Labs.

The numbers are staggering. Since 2021, more than $96 billion in cryptocurrency has flowed to Cambodia-linked companies, with much of it used for money laundering and fraud. Li's $73 million haul represents just a fraction of this massive criminal enterprise.

His methods were sophisticated yet brutally simple. Li and his co-conspirators used social media and dating apps to build fake romantic and professional relationships with American victims. Once trust was established, they lured targets to spoofed cryptocurrency platforms that appeared legitimate but were designed to steal funds. In other cases, they posed as tech support staff, claiming victims needed to transfer money to fix non-existent computer viruses.

Justice Without the Criminal

The California federal court sentenced Li in absentia to 20 years in prison plus three years of supervised release. But there's a problem: Li removed his electronic monitoring device in December and disappeared before his sentencing.

"As part of an international cryptocurrency investment scam, Daren Li and his co-conspirators laundered over $73 million dollars stolen from American victims," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva. The Justice Department says it's working with global law enforcement to find and return Li to the U.S., but international fugitive cases can drag on for years—if they're resolved at all.

For victims, the sentence offers little comfort. Criminal convictions don't automatically return stolen funds, especially when the perpetrator has fled with the money.

The Human Psychology Behind the Numbers

Social engineering attacks like Li's accounted for 41% of all crypto security incidents in 2025, causing billions in losses. This isn't about sophisticated hacking—it's about exploiting human emotions and trust.

The "pig butchering" term comes from the methodical way scammers "fatten up" victims with fake relationships before the financial "slaughter." Romance scams have evolved beyond lonely hearts seeking love online; they now target professionals, investors, and even cybersecurity-aware individuals who believe they're too smart to fall for such schemes.

The Cambodia connection reveals another troubling dimension: many scammers are themselves victims, forced to work in compounds under threat of violence. This creates a complex web where traditional notions of perpetrator and victim blur.