The United States Department of Justice announced coordinated enforcement actions by its Scam Center Strike Force against Southeast Asian scam-center networks, including wire fraud conspiracy charges against two alleged managers of a Burma-based cryptocurrency investment fraud compound, the seizure of a Telegram recruitment channel and 503 fake investment-platform domains, and the restraint of more than USD 700 million in cryptocurrency tied to alleged money laundering. Criminal complaints name Huang Xingshan (also known as Ah Zhe) and Jiang Wen Jie (also known as Jiang Nan) as managers at the Shunda compound in Min Let Pan, Burma, which operated from at least January 2025 until around November 2025 and used scam websites and apps to solicit victim deposits while trafficked workers were held under threat of violence. Investigators allege Huang acted as a high-level manager and enforcer and Jiang supervised teams targeting U.S. victims, including a fraud of more than USD 3 million against a single victim; after the compound was seized, both allegedly moved operations to Cambodia and were later arrested in Thailand on immigration charges. The Telegram channel seized had more than 6,000 followers and was used to recruit workers into a Cambodian compound running a law-enforcement impersonation scheme, while the 503 .com domains were identified via the FBI and U.S. Secret Service's Operation Level Up, which as of March 2026 had notified 8,935 victims and estimated avoided losses of USD 562,726,245. Across related cases, the Strike Force reported restraining USD 701,962,392.15 in cryptocurrency through a mix of voluntary actions by cryptocurrency providers and U.S. legal process, with forfeiture efforts aimed at returning funds to victims; seized domains now display law-enforcement notices. The DOJ release also pointed to parallel measures, including a State Department reward offer of up to USD 10 million tied to proceeds from the Tai Chang scam centers and new Treasury Department sanctions on Cambodian individuals and entities linked to scam-center operations.
U.S. Department of Justice 2026-04-23
United States Department of Justice charges two Chinese nationals, seizes a Telegram channel and 503 scam domains, and restrains over USD 700 million in cryptocurrency
The U.S. Department of Justice announced coordinated Scam Center Strike Force actions against Southeast Asian scam-center networks, including wire fraud conspiracy charges against two alleged managers of a Burma-based cryptocurrency investment fraud compound, seizure of a Telegram recruitment channel and 503 fake investment-platform domains, and restraint of over USD 700 million in cryptocurrency tied to alleged money laundering. Authorities have restrained USD 701,962,392.15 in cryptocurrency, with forfeiture efforts aimed at victim restitution and seized domains displaying law-enforcement notices. The announcement also highlighted parallel U.S. Department of State reward measures and U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions targeting Cambodian individuals and entities linked to scam-center operations.