U.S. authorities are launching a task force to combat offshore crypto-based investment scams.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), along with the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia and the Secret Service, announced the creation of a multi-agency unit to target crypto scams that are operated from Southeast Asia, using social media, texting and other methods to contact U.S. investors.
These kinds of scams, often referred to as “pig butchering” schemes, are typically run out of compounds using forced labour that aim to gain victims’ trust and convince them to make crypto investments, which are then transferred to fake crypto investment websites and apps, and laundered to offshore wallets. They allegedly defraud U.S. investors of almost US$10 billion per year.
The new task force is seeking to identify and apprehend the leaders of organized crime affiliates operating in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma and to disable scammers’ access to U.S.-based facilities and infrastructure, such as internet service providers and social media companies used to carry out these schemes.
“Since 2019, the U.S. Secret Service has seen a major uptick in cryptocurrency investment scams,” said Kyo Dolan, assistant director of the secret service, in a release.
“The organizations behind these scams leverage an ‘ecosystem of criminality,’ often weaving an intricate web of illicit activities together to perpetrate their schemes. In fiscal year 2025 alone, the U.S. Secret Service has responded to approximately 3,000 victims who contacted us regarding cryptocurrency investment schemes,” she said.