In a major effort to curb rising cryptocurrency frauds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, in coordination with key federal agencies, announced on November 12, 2025 the establishment of the first-ever Scam Centre Strike Force. The move aims to defend Americans from what authorities describe as widespread, transnational “crypto-investment” schemes emerging from Southeast Asia.
The public unveiling included officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Secret Service, and the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, highlighting the breadth and seriousness of the problem.
What the Scams Look Like
According to the Strike Force, many of these scams are orchestrated by Chinese transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) operating from compounds in countries like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and others in Southeast Asia.
These groups reportedly lure individuals via social-media or text message outreach to U.S.-based phone numbers. Initially they win victims’ trust, then persuade them to invest in what appears to be legitimate cryptocurrency ventures. Once victims transfer real money or crypto, they are directed to bogus investment websites or apps. Behind the scenes, the fraudsters rapidly launder the funds through a web of offshore accounts, far removed from U.S. oversight.
The criminal operations have been likened to “pig butchering” scams: a metaphor reflecting how victims are “fattened up” over time, groomed to invest more, and ultimately exploited for the maximum possible gain.
Disturbingly, many scam centres are reportedly run using forced labour: people, often victims of human trafficking held against their will, abused, and guarded by armed groups while they execute fraudulent campaigns.
Estimates cited by the Strike Force suggest these scam operations collectively defraud Americans of nearly US$10 billion per year.
How the Strike Force will Operate
The Scam Centre Strike Force merges resources from multiple U.S. agencies: the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the DOJ’s Criminal Division (including its Fraud Section, Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section, and Money Laundering section), the FBI, and the U.S. Secret Service.
The initiative is designed to attack these scams on multiple fronts:
- Targeting and prosecuting key operatives, especially leaders of organized-crime groups including Chinese affiliates based in Southeast Asia.
- Seizing and disabling U.S.-based infrastructure that enables scams such as websites, social-media accounts, and internet domains used to solicit victims.
- Coordinating with foreign law enforcement partners and using tools from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the State Department, and the Department of Commerce to freeze and restrict assets tied to these schemes.
- Working in public–private partnership mode: urging U.S. technology and telecom companies to cooperate by blocking scam operations, shutting down relevant infrastructure, and helping prevent further abuse of U.S. systems.
- Recovering stolen cryptocurrency and attempting to return funds to defrauded victims. So far, the Strike Force’s Crypto-Seizure team has reportedly confiscated over US$401.6 million in crypto assets, and initiated forfeiture proceedings for roughly US$80 million more.
The Strike Force has already struck specific scam centres, for example, in Burma, where it seized websites used in fraud, and is working to seize satellite terminals that provided internet access to such centres.
Similarly, operations have been conducted targeting a network of scam centres in Bali and other Southeast Asian locations. One such investigation, allegedly led by Cambodia-based facilitators, targeted more than 150 U.S.-based victims; actions based on information provided by the Strike Force led to prosecutions of 38 Indonesian nationals.
The Importance of This Effort
Authorities say these scams represent more than isolated fraud cases. They constitute a systemic problem. The scale is massive, and the methods are evolving by combining social-engineering, crypto laundering, forced-labour compounds, and global networks, scammers are exploiting both technology and human vulnerabilities.
Moreover, by using U.S.-based platforms such as social media, internet services, payment systems, these criminals hide behind legitimate infrastructure while targeting Americans. The new Strike Force’s cross-agency, cross-border approach acknowledges that this kind of fraud cannot be tackled by a single agency alone.
According to the Strike Force’s leadership, public-private cooperation will be essential. Only by working together can companies and law enforcement prevent U.S. systems from being weaponized.
The Americans’ Move
The announcement urges anyone who believes they have been defrauded by a Southeast Asian “scam centre” to report it to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3), available at ic3.gov.
Beyond reporting, the Strike Force also plans to run public education campaigns and helping people learn to spot red flags, avoid fake investment offers, and understand safe practices around cryptocurrency.
The establishment of the Scam Centre Strike Force marks a significant escalation in the fight against large-scale crypto-fraud targeting U.S. citizens. With reported annual losses running into the billions, and with scammers leveraging international criminal networks, forced-labour compounds, and digital laundering schemes authorities argue that only a coordinated, multi-agency response can meaningfully disrupt these operations.
Time will tell how effective this new Strike Force will be. For now, it represents both a warning to criminal operators, misuse U.S. infrastructure, and you will be hunted and a call to the public, stay vigilant, question too-good-to-be-true investment pitches, and report suspicious activity.
