US DOJ Seizes and Freezes $580 Million in Crypto Linked to Chinese Criminal Groups

As cross-border online fraud grows more sophisticated, cryptocurrencies have become a new conduit for illicit money laundering because of their high degree of anonymity. Interpol has stepped up enforcement to prevent criminal groups from using decentralized finance to legitimize illicit proceeds. The scale and cross-border reach of such networks have made stemming virtual-asset flows a major challenge for global financial-security and law-enforcement authorities.

Interpol said in July 2026 that Operation First Light 2026 had dismantled a money-laundering network linked to romance scams. Thai police arrested two suspects whose cryptocurrency wallets received more than $122 million over 10 months. The coordinated global operation resulted in 5,811 arrests and the seizure of $293 million in illicit assets.

Scam compounds in Southeast Asia often target victims worldwide through romance scams and fraudulent investment schemes, and are linked to human trafficking and forced labor. The U.S. Department of Justice established the Scam Center Strike Force to trace cross-border fund flows alongside the FBI, the Secret Service and the Royal Thai Police. Platforms including Coinbase can use blockchain records to locate assets, making them a key part of efforts to disrupt scam networks.

A “week of action” beginning May 18, 2026, brought together Meta, Microsoft, Coinbase, Starlink and law enforcement agencies from multiple countries. Results announced on June 3 showed that Coinbase had frozen more than $3 million in crypto assets, Meta had disabled more than 1.4 million accounts, pages and groups, and Microsoft had suspended about 20,000 scam-related accounts. Thai police also arrested 63 suspects.