DoJ Disrupts Southeast Asia Crypto Fraud Networks, Freezes $3.8 Million in Assets

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Wednesday announced the results of a sweeping action undertaken by government authorities and private sector companies to combat cyber-enabled and cryptocurrency fraud targeting Americans.

The “Disruption Week” operation began May 18, 2026, leading to the takedown of millions of social media, email, and internet access accounts used by transnational cybercrime groups in Southeast Asia to defraud victims. Private sector entities voluntarily froze over $3.8 million in cryptocurrency involved in the laundering of funds stolen from Americans.

“Cyber-enabled and crypto investment fraud is devastating Main Street Americans, wiping out life savings and preying on some of our most vulnerable citizens,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia.

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The efforts are part of an ongoing U.S. government initiative called Scam Center Strike Force, which aims to dismantle transnational criminal organizations running cyber-enabled fraud and “pig butchering” (aka romance baiting) scams from compounds in Southeast Asia, along with the human trafficking and money laundering operations that fuel the illicit enterprise.

These schemes typically involve cultivating relationships with prospective victims over time before they are coaxed into depositing funds into fraudulent investment platforms under the promise of high returns. Once the assets are deposited, they are routed to accounts under the scammers’ control. Once the victim runs out of money or discovers the fraud, the criminals cease contact with them.

Participating in the operation were Apple, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Silent Push, SpaceX/Starlink, TRM Labs, and Zenlayer, alongside the Australian Federal Police, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, New Zealand Police, the Royal Thai Police, and U.K. National Crime Agency.

The “first-of-its-kind event” has resulted in a series of actions –

• Disruptions of criminal activity across more than 1.4 million accounts, pages and groups across Facebook and Instagram, 20,000 Microsoft accounts, and thousands of Starlink kits;
• Interruptions of malicious IP address traffic and of network connections hosted by scammers;
• Decommissioning of servers, colocation environments, and hosting infrastructure linked to scam networks operating across Southeast Asia;
• Identification of multiple scammers and scam platforms, and referrals of the same to U.S. authorities for investigation and possible prosecution; and
• Arrests of seven scammers in Thailand and the opening of new cases by the Royal Thai Police Anti-Cyber Scam Center.

According to the DoJ, cryptocurrency investment scams have emerged as one of the “fastest growing and most financially devastating forms of fraud” targeting Americans, with reported losses from these scams rising from $3.96 billion in 2023 to $5.8 billion in 2024 and to more than $7.2 billion in 2025, registering a 24% increase year-over-year.

“Many of these schemes are run out of industrial-scale compounds in Cambodia, Laos, and in Burma along the border with Thailand,” the DoJ said. “Criminal syndicates often lure workers to Thailand with promises of high-paying technical jobs, then seize their identification documents and traffic them to work in scam compounds.”

“Within the compounds, trafficked workers are frequently forced to conduct fraud operations against victims in the United States and elsewhere under threat of violence.”

Last month, a joint international operation involving U.S. and Chinese authorities arrested at least 276 suspects and shut down nine scam centers used for cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes targeting Americans.

In a coordinated statement, Meta said law enforcement has arrested 63 potential criminals connected to scam centers thus far, with Coinbase freezing over $3 million in cryptocurrency assets tied to criminal networks.

“Transnational online fraud cannot be solved by any single agency or country acting alone, which is why strong collaboration and timely information sharing remain essential to dismantling these networks and protecting the public,” Police Lieutenant General Jirabhop Bhuridej, Royal Thai Police, said.

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