DoJ Disrupts Southeast Asia Crypto Fraud Networks, Freezes $3.8 Million in Assets
Summary: The U.S. Department of Justice announced a "Disruption Week" operation that began May 18, 2026, taking down millions of social media, email, and internet access accounts used by Southeast Asian cybercrime groups, while private companies voluntarily froze over $3.8 million in cryptocurrency tied to laundering stolen funds. The DoJ reported crypto investment scam losses rising from $3.96 billion in 2023 to $5.8 billion in 2024 and more than $7.2 billion in 2025, a 24% year-over-year increase, with participants including Apple, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Microsoft, SpaceX/Starlink, TRM Labs, and the Royal Thai Police.
What's compelling: Reported losses from these scams reached more than $7.2 billion in 2025, and the DoJ ties them to industrial-scale compounds in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma where trafficked workers are forced to run fraud under threat of violence.
Read the original at The Hacker News ↗
- Topics
- Fraud & Scams
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