DOJ Launches Strike Force Against $135B Crypto Scams

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced the Scam Center Strike Force on Wednesday, describing what she called “a growing epidemic” of crypto investment fraud perpetrated by organized Chinese crime syndicates targeting Americans. The staggering $135 billion figure for 2024 losses underscores the massive scale of these operations, which have evolved into sophisticated transnational criminal enterprises. Pirro’s office has already demonstrated the potential for recovery, having seized $480 million in stolen cryptocurrency, including $80 million announced concurrently with the strike force launch.

The term “pig butchering” derives from the scammers’ methodology of slowly building trust with victims through social media and dating platforms, effectively “fattening them up” before convincing them to invest in fake cryptocurrency platforms. These schemes have become increasingly sophisticated, with criminals assuming false identities and creating elaborate fake investment sites that appear legitimate to unsuspecting victims. The coordinated nature of these operations, often involving human trafficking victims forced to work in scam compounds, has made them particularly difficult to combat through traditional law enforcement channels.

The Scam Center Strike Force represents a fundamental shift in the U.S. government’s approach to combating crypto crime. For the first time, the DOJ, FBI, Secret Service, U.S. Treasury, and other agencies will work in concert to identify and charge the leaders of cryptocurrency scam organizations, trace and seize stolen funds for victims, and disable U.S. infrastructure used to facilitate the scams. This marks a departure from previous efforts where agencies operated independently against different elements of these crimes without acknowledging their shared roots in Chinese black markets.

Pirro explicitly linked the initiative to President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto agenda, arguing that as Americans embrace cryptocurrency, they should feel secure transacting online without fear of sophisticated fraud schemes. “There are no tricks that can be a part of cryptocurrency,” Pirro stated, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to creating a safe environment for digital asset adoption. The timing suggests a strategic alignment with broader political objectives around cryptocurrency regulation and mainstream acceptance.

Concurrent with the strike force announcement, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions against a militant group operating cyber scam compounds in Burma that inflicts violence against human trafficking victims forced to work in scam centers. Treasury also sanctioned two companies and a Thai national linked to the Burmese militant group and Chinese organized crime, demonstrating the multi-pronged approach the new initiative will employ.

Leading crypto security experts have welcomed the coordinated approach as a necessary evolution in combating global crypto crime. Ari Redbord, Head of Global Policy at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, told Decrypt that “The Scam Center Strike Force is the clearest statement yet that the United States intends to fight back with the full power of the state. Not in isolation, but in coordination: DOJ prosecuting, Treasury sanctioning, FBI investigating, FinCEN analyzing, State pressuring, and industry tracing.”

The new strike force builds on recent successful operations that demonstrate the effectiveness of coordinated action. Last month, the DOJ announced the seizure of $14 billion worth of Bitcoin from an alleged crypto scam network based in Cambodia with ties to China—the largest forfeiture action in the department’s history. That operation involved criminal charges, financial sanctions, diplomatic efforts, and sophisticated on-chain analysis, providing a blueprint for how the Scam Center Strike Force can effectively dismantle global cyber-enabled fraud networks.

Redbord noted that the Cambodia operation showed how coordinated action transforms law enforcement’s approach from reactive to “proactively disruptive.” The involvement of multiple agencies—including the DOJ, FBI, DEA, and State Department—in that case created a model for systematically dismantling criminal networks rather than merely responding to individual incidents. This represents a significant advancement in the government’s capability to combat increasingly sophisticated transnational crypto crime operations.