U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced two actions the Department of Justice’s Scam Center Strike Force recently conducted regarding Southeast Asian cryptocurrency-related fraud and scams.
Daily, approximately $52 million in cryptocurrency is involved in scam money laundering. Recent actions bring the total restrained by the Scam Center Strike Force to approximately $938 million.
“If Chinese organized crime can buy a custom website and a money laundering service the way you order takeout, then every American with a retirement account is in the blast radius,” Pirro said. “My Strike Force will continue to dismantle Chinese organized crime, those who facilitate it, and protect Main Street America.”
The strike force assisted in the taking down of 13 Chinese-run scam compounds in Madagascar and also with the Department of the Treasury to take action against Xinbi Guarantee, an illicit marketplace for scam services.
Xinbi allegedly ran a marketplace on Telegram that allowed vendors to market their services to scam center operators. U.S. victims’ funds were traced to specific vendors, according to the seizure warrant. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia authorized seizure of the Telegram channels on Sept. 7.
The strike force also seized two cryptocurrency wallets that Xinbi used to collect payments for vendors.