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On Nov. 12, 2025, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia announced the Scam Center Strike Force, a federal initiative to dismantle transnational networks behind global cryptocurrency “pig butchering” scams.
These industrial-scale fraud operations have stolen billions from victims worldwide, combining cybercrime, human trafficking, and financial deception under a single criminal enterprise.
The new Strike Force represents a coordinated, “whole-of-government” approach uniting the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Treasury Department, and other federal agencies to combat these evolving threats.
Scam Compounds Exploit Trafficked Workers for Profit
Across Southeast Asia, organized crime syndicates operate sprawling scam compounds that function as high-volume fraud factories.
Victims are targeted primarily through social media, fake investment apps, and online relationships.
Meanwhile, trafficked workers — many from across Asia and Africa — are coerced into running the scams around the clock.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has documented these compounds across Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines, estimating that they generate tens of billions of dollars annually.
According to the FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Report, Americans alone lost over $9 billion to online investment fraud.
Treasury Sanctions Tie Scam Profits to Regional Conflict
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) simultaneously announced sanctions against the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), a Burmese armed group operating scam compounds that target Americans.
The designations also included affiliated companies and individuals across Thailand and Myanmar, all tied to Chinese-organized crime networks.
According to OFAC, the profits from these scam centers not only finance organized crime but also fuel ongoing regional conflicts.
These sanctions align with the launch of the Strike Force and signal a decisive use of financial enforcement tools to cripple transnational fraud infrastructure.
Inside the Multi-Agency Model Powering the Strike Force
The DOJ’s Strike Force embodies an integrated enforcement model that mobilizes every relevant agency’s capabilities.
DOJ leads prosecutions, asset seizures, and forfeitures, while FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) and OFAC provide the financial intelligence backbone and sanctions authority.
The FBI, Secret Service, Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) contribute operational power through international task forces targeting trafficking, cybercrime, and money laundering.
FinCEN, for instance, plays a pivotal role by mapping laundering pipelines through blockchain analytics and suspicious activity reports (SARs).
It recently designated Cambodia-based Huione Group as a primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, cutting it off from the U.S. financial system for facilitating billions in scam proceeds and North Korea-linked cyberattacks.
OFAC complements this effort through sanctions that freeze assets and block associated cryptocurrency wallet addresses, effectively isolating fraud networks from the global economy.
How the Scam Center Strike Force Operates
The Scam Center Strike Force functions as a joint command center integrating intelligence, enforcement, and diplomacy.
Victim reports and blockchain data feed into shared investigative databases, while AI tools map wallet clusters and transaction flows.
Once criminal networks are identified, the DOJ and FBI initiate seizures, OFAC and FinCEN trigger sanctions, and the State Department applies diplomatic pressure on host nations to shut down scam compounds.
Recovered funds are redirected toward victim restitution and prevention initiatives through the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
DOJ Seizes $15 Billion in Landmark Crypto Fraud Case
The DOJ’s 2025 case against Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group demonstrates the value of coordinated enforcement.
Federal prosecutors charged chairman Chen Zhi and others with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy tied to forced-labor scam compounds.
The case involved the seizure of 127,000 Bitcoin worth roughly $15 billion.
OFAC simultaneously sanctioned 146 entities linked to the network, while FinCEN targeted its laundering facilitators.
This multi-agency alignment exposed the entire ecosystem — from scam operations to laundering nodes — and froze billions before they could disappear.
Why Crypto Fraud Demands a Global Response
Crypto-investment scams have become more than financial crimes — they are humanitarian and geopolitical crises.
Victims are not just investors losing savings; many are trafficked workers trapped inside the compounds that perpetrate these schemes.
The Scam Center Strike Force represents a paradigm shift: an acknowledgment that stopping crypto fraud requires global coordination, intelligence-driven enforcement, and direct disruption of criminal infrastructure.
