The U.S. Department of Justice takes strong action against Southeast Asian scam centers, freezing over $700 million in cryptocurrency.

Deep Tide TechFlow news: On April 24, according to an official announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Fraud Center Strike Team” announced on April 23 that it would carry out a series of coordinated actions against criminal organizations in Southeast Asia. The team indicted two Chinese management personnel, Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wenjie, who were employed at Myanmar’s “Shunda Fraud Center.” The two are suspected of forcing trafficked laborers to engage in cryptocurrency investment fraud; both have been arrested in Thailand. The team also seized a Telegram channel with more than 6,000 followers, which was used to lure people to scam centers in Cambodia for forced labor. In parallel, the team seized 503 scam domains disguised as legitimate investment platforms.

On the funding side, the team has frozen more than $701 million in cryptocurrency suspected of being related to scam-related money laundering. Through “Operation Level Up,” it notified 8,935 victims, estimating potential losses that could be recovered at approximately $563 million. In addition, the U.S. Department of State announced a reward of up to $10 million to solicit leads related to Myanmar’s “Taichang Fraud Center.” The U.S. Department of the Treasury simultaneously imposed sanctions on relevant individuals and entities in Cambodia. According to FBI data, losses from U.S. cryptocurrency investment scams in 2025 have risen to $7.2 billion, up 24% from 2024.