Coinbase Freezes $3 Million in Crypto Tied to Asian Scam Networks

Coinbase froze more than $3 million in cryptocurrency linked to Southeast Asian fraud rings. The move was part of the US Department of Justice’s coordinated Disruption Week with private technology firms. 

The operation paired federal investigators with major platforms to choke off the accounts and infrastructure behind cyber-enabled investment scams that have drained billions from American victims.

Inside the DOJ’s Disruption Week

The DOJ announced the results on June 3. The Scam Center Strike Force led the effort. Agents from the FBI and Secret Service shared target intelligence with the private participants.

Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, SpaceX, and analytics firm TRM Labs joined the exchange. Police from Thailand, the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand also took part.

Together, the firms disrupted more than 1.4 million social media and email accounts. Thai police arrested seven scammers and opened new cases.

“Cyber-enabled and crypto investment fraud is devastating Main Street Americans, wiping out life savings and preying on some of our most vulnerable citizens,” US Attorney Jeanine Pirro stated.

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Why Coinbase Calls Crypto a Crime-Fighting Tool

Coinbase contributed by freezing over $3 million in assets tied to the networks. The firm frames blockchain as a help to investigators, not a liability.

It argues that public ledgers give law enforcement a permanent, traceable record that traditional finance often lacks.

“This operation is proof that scammers can’t be stopped by any single company or agency acting alone. It took social platforms, financial institutions, connectivity providers, and law enforcement working in lockstep to hit these networks at nearly every point in the fraud chain, online accounts, financial flows, and physical infrastructure all at once,” Coinbase wrote.

Meanwhile, this was not the unit’s first strike against the compounds. In April, the Strike Force charged two Chinese nationals accused of running a crypto fraud operation in Burma and trying to rebuild it in Cambodia. Authorities also restrained more than $700 million in crypto tied to scam laundering.

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