US attorney for the District of Columbia (DC) Jeanine Pirro has presented details of a newly created cross-government ‘Scam Center Strike Force’ to tackle Southeast Asian cryptocurrency-related fraud and scams.
The Scam Center Strike Force has been created to ‘combine the power, reach and resources’ of the US Attorney’s Office for DC with the Department of Justice (DoJ)’s Criminal Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and US Secret Service. The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island is also collaborating on the initiative.
Its aim is to ‘crackdown and disrupt’ cryptocurrency investment scams that are ‘stealing the life savings of everyday Americans,’ according to US Attorney’s Office for DC press release.
The geographic focus is on Chinese transnational criminal organisations using crypto investment scams and a ‘variety of confidence scams’, the authorities state. But they are also targeting the ‘worst scam compounds’ in Southeast Asia, they explain, adding that ‘Strike Force teams focus on identifying and pursuing key leaders – including Chinese organised crime affiliates operating in Cambodia, Laos and Burma – to bring them to justice.’
The Scam Center Strike Force is ‘seeking to use all government tools available’, partnering with the State Department, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Department of Commerce; and is seeking the private sector to row in behind the initiative.
Tackling ‘pig butchering’
‘Chinese transnational criminal organisations are using cryptocurrency investment scams and a variety of confidence scams to steal the life savings of everyday Americans,’ the press release states. ‘Often using US social media networks or text messages to US-based cell phones, the scammers first gain the trust of their targeted victims. Over time, the scammers convince their victims to invest in real cryptocurrency, only to then trick their victims to transfer those funds into fake cryptocurrency investment websites and applications. Many of those websites are hosted by companies in the United States, but once funds are transferred, the cryptocurrency is quickly laundered into other accounts outside of US jurisdiction.’
‘These schemes, which fraudsters refer to as “pig butchering” because they are “fattening” up their victims, are often run out of scam compounds in Southeast Asia,’ the release continues. ‘Workers in the compounds often are victims of human trafficking, held against their will, abused, and guarded by armed groups as they are instructed to target Americans. In some of the Southeast Asian countries where these compounds operate, scam-generated revenue is so massive that it amounts to nearly half of the country’s GDP.’
The release notes that ‘recent reporting estimates that this scam industry defrauds Americans of nearly $10 billion per year.’
Since the start of his second term as US president in January, Donald Trump’s administration has pursued policies to make the US a leader in the digital currency sector. Significant moments include his signing the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) in July during what US lawmakers dubbed ‘Crypto Week’ in Washington DC. As Trump signed the act into law (18 July), the White House released a ‘fact-sheet’ describing GENIUS as a ‘historic piece of legislation that will pave the way for the United States to lead the global digital currency revolution.’
‘Ecosystem of criminality’
“Scam centres are creating a generational wealth transfer from Main Street America into the pockets of Chinese organised crime,” said Pirro in the announcement.
“As the prosecuting office in the nation’s capital, my office has the authority to charge foreign defendants and seize foreign property,” she continued. “President Trump wants the United States to be the global centre of the world’s cryptocurrency industry. So it is absolutely crucial that Americans understand the safe use of this commodity. We will expose and prosecute the criminals who would abuse their trust so that all Americans can feel secure in their investments.”
“The FBI is committed to the important work of the Scam Center Strike Force,” said FBI criminal division deputy assistant director Gregory Heeb in the announcement. “The lasting impact from the highly sophisticated, transnational financial crimes emanating from scam centres can be devastating to victims and their families. It is the FBI’s job to stop these criminals, and with the help of our partners around the globe, we will do just that.”
“Since 2019, the US Secret Service has seen a major uptick in cryptocurrency investment scams,” said Secret Service assistant director Kyo Dolan. “The organisations behind these scams leverage an ‘ecosystem of criminality’, often weaving an intricate web of illicit activities together to perpetrate their schemes. In fiscal year 2025 alone, the US Secret Service has responded to approximately 3,000 victims who contacted us regarding cryptocurrency investment schemes.”
‘Older Americans’ targetted
Pirro – speaking alongside other government department and law enforcement representatives –announced the creation of the Scam Center Strike Force and its priorities at a press event in Washington DC on 12 November (a link to a video recording of the press event is embedded at the end of this article).
Pirro kicked off by describing a “growing epidemic of crypto investment fraud scams perpetrated by Chinese organised crime syndicates.”
“In 2024 alone Americans were scammed out of more than $9 billion as a result of this cryptocurrency fraud. Experts estimate that because of underreporting it is as much as 15 times more than the $9 billion,” she said. “Older Americans in particular are the targets of these scams. Many of them lonely, many of them looking to speak to someone who communicates with them.”
Heeb, who spoke immediately after Pirro, described scam centres as posing a “growing threat” to Americans. Dolan, speaking next, said that each Strike Force member agency “brings unique expertise and capabilities that, when combined in a strategic and co-ordinated manner, will greatly impact our ability these scams and dismantle the criminal organisations behind them.”
OFAC director Brad Smith similarly spoke of a “whole-of-government effort” behind the initiative, which is already up and running, and detailed specific examples of sanctions imposed in Burma (announced the same day by the Treasury).
“The biggest problem is that so many people have heard about ‘crypto’ and want to get involved and they don’t understand it, and if they can see a legitimate profit on a legitimate website, they’re ‘all in’ – and that’s what we are trying to prevent, especially when we have got these scam centres in Southeast Asia and they are part of even bigger operations that are intended to target the United States,” Pirro said.
Public-private partnership
The Strike Force is working to seize and disable US-based ‘facilities and infrastructure that provide the manner and means to execute these scams’, which includes US internet service provider and social media accounts used by scammers, the announcement states.
The announcement states that a ‘Strike Force Crypto Seizure team’ has so far seized and forfeited just over $400m in cryptocurrency from such schemes, and announced the filing of forfeiture proceedings for $80 million in stolen funds.
Specifics are also shared on numerous in-the-field anti-scam operations, for example, against two scam centres located in Burma (also mentioned in the Treasury’s announcement). ‘At the Tai Chang scam compound, the team seized websites used to victimize Americans,’ the announcement states. ‘At another Burmese scam centre, the team is seeking warrants to seize satellite terminals used to connect the facilities to the internet and enable fraud and money laundering.’
In the announcement, Pirro specifically urges US companies to join the initiative “in public-private partnership”, explaining that “we must secure the US infrastructure, which is being used as an instrument to defraud Americans in these scams.”
She concluded the press event by saying that US-headquartered tech giant Meta (formerly Facebook) had “already indicated they are willing to collaborate and partner with us”, which, she said, was a “great first step”; and that Microsoft and, separately, AARP (non-profit organisation formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) had also “reached out” to get involved.
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