What Did the Strike Force Recover?

Federal authorities have frozen or seized more than $580 million in digital assets tied to Chinese transnational criminal organizations, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The recovery follows a coordinated enforcement push carried out over the past three months.

The assets were restrained by the Scam Center Strike Force, a unit formed in November to centralize efforts against offshore “pig butchering” operations. The task force brings together the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, and IRS Criminal Investigation.

Officials said the funds are linked to cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes and other confidence scams run by organized crime affiliates operating in Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. The broader industry behind such scams is estimated to defraud Americans of nearly $10 billion each year.

Investor Takeaway

Large-scale crypto seizures tied to cross-border fraud cases reinforce Washington’s focus on enforcement rather than new rulemaking, with asset recovery and forfeiture actions likely to remain central tools.

How the Schemes Operated

According to the statement, the scams typically begin with contact through U.S.-based social media platforms or unsolicited text messages. Victims are drawn into conversations designed to build trust before being directed to fraudulent cryptocurrency investment websites that mimic legitimate trading platforms.

Authorities said many of the individuals working inside scam compounds are themselves victims of human trafficking, held against their will and guarded by armed groups. The operations are often structured to move funds quickly through digital wallets to obscure the money trail.

The Justice Department said it will seek forfeiture of the frozen assets through the courts and attempt to return funds to victims “to the maximum extent possible.”

“These criminals don’t care who you are, what you believe in, or what you ate for breakfast — all they want is to steal from good and honest Americans to line the pockets of Chinese organized crime,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said. “My office and our law enforcement partners around the country are taking this threat head on.”

Why Chinese-Language Laundering Networks Matter

The enforcement action comes as Chinese-language money laundering networks play a growing role in the illicit crypto economy. A January report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimated that such networks processed $16.1 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, averaging roughly $44 million per day across more than 1,799 active wallets.

Chainalysis said those networks accounted for around 20% of identified illicit crypto laundering activity last year and have expanded more rapidly than inflows to centralized exchanges since 2020. The figures suggest that organized laundering infrastructure has scaled alongside the growth of crypto markets.

That backdrop has increased pressure on exchanges, custodians, and stablecoin issuers to strengthen monitoring of wallet activity and cross-border flows tied to high-risk jurisdictions.

Investor Takeaway

Heightened enforcement against cross-border scam networks raises compliance expectations for crypto intermediaries, particularly around wallet screening and suspicious transaction reporting.

What Comes Next?

The Justice Department’s next step will be pursuing forfeiture proceedings in federal court. Asset recovery cases of this size typically unfold over months or years as authorities trace ownership, establish criminal links, and process victim claims.

The $580 million figure also places the operation among the larger publicly disclosed crypto-related seizures tied to fraud schemes. While the total estimated losses from such scams run into the billions annually, coordinated asset freezes on this scale show that law enforcement agencies are targeting the financial backbone of these networks rather than focusing solely on individual perpetrators.

As crypto-based confidence scams continue to rely on social engineering and rapid fund transfers, enforcement actions are likely to concentrate on disrupting laundering infrastructure and seizing digital assets before they can be dispersed beyond recovery.