Authorities say they’ve seized more than $584.7 million in cryptocurrency tied to Southeast Asian scam compounds run by Chinese transnational criminal organizations.
The Scam Center Strike Force, launched in 2025 and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, has focused on dismantling cryptocurrency investment fraud operations commonly known as “pig butchering” schemes.
Authorities say the criminal networks operate out of large-scale scam compounds in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma, using US-based internet infrastructure and social media platforms to lure victims.
Fraudsters cultivate trust with targets before directing them to transfer legitimate cryptocurrency into fraudulent investment platforms they control.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro says the seizures mark a critical step in disrupting the financial backbone of Chinese organized crime groups.
The government will now pursue forfeiture proceedings aimed at returning recovered funds to victims “to the maximum extent possible.”
The Strike Force is also working to disable U.S.-based infrastructure that enables the scams and is coordinating with federal partners to cut off access to domains, social media accounts, and financial channels used to target American citizens.
According to officials, the scam industry is estimated to cost Americans nearly $10 billion annually. In some Southeast Asian jurisdictions, revenue from scam compounds reportedly represents a substantial portion of national GDP.
Officials urge victims of cryptocurrency investment scams to file complaints with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
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