DoJ, tech firms freeze $3.8M, disrupt SE Asia crypto scams

The U.S. Department of Justice announced a coordinated operation called “Disruption Week” that began May 18, 2026, targeting transnational cryptocurrency fraud rings operating from compounds in Southeast Asia. Authorities and private companies froze more than $3.8 million in cryptocurrency, disabled roughly 1.4 million Facebook and Instagram accounts and helped secure the arrest of seven suspects in Thailand.

The effort was led by the Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force with voluntary participation from Apple, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Silent Push, SpaceX/Starlink, TRM Labs and Zenlayer. Law enforcement partners from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Thailand and the U.K. joined the operation. Coinbase reported it froze over $3 million in assets tied to the networks, and Meta said law enforcement has arrested 63 people connected to scam centers so far.

Investigators interrupted malicious internet traffic, decommissioned servers and hosting environments used by the networks, and traced funds and platform operators for referral to U.S. authorities. The takedown affected more than 1.4 million Facebook and Instagram accounts, about 20,000 Microsoft accounts and thousands of Starlink kits, according to the Justice Department.

Officials characterized the schemes as long-running romance-baiting or “pig butchering” frauds that cultivate relationships before coaxing victims to move money into fake investment platforms. The Justice Department reported U.S. losses from cryptocurrency investment fraud rose from $3.96 billion in 2023 to $5.8 billion in 2024 and exceeded $7.2 billion in 2025, a 24% year-over-year increase.

The department said many networks operate from industrial-scale compounds in Cambodia, Laos and parts of Burma near the Thai border. Workers are sometimes recruited with promises of technical jobs, then forced to surrender identification and compelled to run fraud operations under threat of violence, the agency reported.

The operation produced seven arrests in Thailand and prompted new cases opened by the Royal Thai Police Anti-Cyber Scam Center. A separate international action last month involving U.S. and Chinese authorities led to at least 276 arrests and the closure of nine scam centers.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia warned, “Cyber-enabled and crypto investment fraud is devastating Main Street Americans, wiping out life savings and preying on some of our most vulnerable citizens.” Royal Thai Police Lieutenant General Jirabhop Bhuridej urged continued cross-border cooperation and timely information sharing to dismantle these networks and protect the public.