Washington and London divide up prosecutions of the crypto scam compounds
The two sides will run parallel investigations and settle between themselves who charges whom. The last multi-country operation of this kind froze $3.8 million, most of it by one exchange's compliance desk.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- The Justice Department said on Sept. 3 that its DC US Attorney's Office, the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales and the UK National Crime Agency had signed a memorandum of understanding on scam centres.
- Under the terms the agencies will investigate common targets in parallel, share information on organized crime syndicates and discuss which jurisdiction should prosecute specific cases.
- Losses from cyber-enabled investment fraud reported to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center rose 89%, from $4.57 billion in 2023 to $8.65 billion in 2025, according to the DOJ.
- The National Crime Agency will host the first in-person disruption operation with private-sector partners in London in early October.
Why it matters
- What it limits constraint Neither signatory hosts the compounds, which the DOJ places mainly across Southeast Asia under Chinese organized crime groups, so the pact can squeeze intermediaries and payment rails but never the operators' premises.
- What's now possible capability Sorting venue in advance lets both sides build the same target concurrently without one case spoiling the other, which buys speed at the charging stage rather than recovered funds.
- What doesn't add up contradiction The loss series justifying the pact is assembled from victim complaints the DOJ says could substantially understate the total, so the reported growth cannot separate more theft from more reporting.
Next story · Invest · 3d ago
DOJ announced plans for the London scam operation 33 days before Coinbase's team joined itConfirmed4 publishers
The operative term in the memorandum is an administrative one: the agencies will investigate common targets in parallel and then settle between themselves which jurisdiction prosecutes which suspect [3], and several overlapping cases have already been picked out [4]. That solves an allocation problem inside the prosecution business, which is worth having but is different from reaching the money.
Reaching the money has a track record. In May the Scam Center Strike Force ran an information-sharing operation with the NCA and agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Thailand [12], and the output was more than 1.4 million social media and email accounts disrupted, seven arrests in Thailand, and more than $3.8 million in crypto frozen by private companies [13]. Set the frozen figure against the $8.65 billion the FBI's complaint centre logged for 2025 [6] and you get 0.044% [17], four and a half basis points of a single year of reported losses. Coinbase supplied over $3 million of that $3.8 million, about 79% [14][18]. Meta, Microsoft and Starlink took action against accounts and infrastructure in the same effort [14], and 1.4 million accounts against seven arrests is 200,000 accounts per arrest [21], a ratio that reflects infrastructure work far more than it reflects prosecution.
The loss numbers deserve the same treatment. Reported cyber-enabled investment fraud went from $4.57 billion in 2023 to $8.65 billion in 2025 [6], which compounds at about 38% a year [16], and the DOJ separately estimates the schemes cost Americans roughly $10 billion annually while cautioning that victim-report data could substantially understate the real total [9][11]. Those two statements sit awkwardly together: $10 billion is only about 16% above $8.65 billion [19], and since investment fraud is a subset of cyber-enabled fraud, which was almost 85% of everything reported to the centre last year [10], all reported losses must have been at least $10.2 billion [20]. The government's estimate of what these schemes cost is therefore at or below the floor of what victims reported across every fraud category, so either the $10 billion is drawn narrowly, or it has not absorbed its own caveat.
The read shifts depending on three factors, each weightier than the last. The compounds are in Southeast Asia and the named targets are Chinese organised crime groups [7], so arrest volume so far has tracked host-state participation rather than paperwork between the countries where the victims live: the Dubai police-led operation with the FBI and China's Ministry of Public Security produced 276 arrests and closed at least nine centres [8]. Next, the binding constraint may be domestic law where the compounds sit, and Myanmar's parliament approved a bill on 28 July carrying 10 years to life for digital currency fraud, with presidential assent unconfirmed [15]. Last, October could turn the platform coalition from occasional into standing, which is the version where a memorandum compounds.
My read, or rather the narrower version of it: this is a cheap allocation of prosecutorial venue against a loss series growing at 38% a year, described by the DOJ as the first agreement of its kind built to disable scam centres [2], and nothing the sources disclose commits money, headcount or seizure authority to it. If the London session [5] reports a frozen total in the tens of millions, coordination is reaching cash. If it reports another $3.8 million, it is intelligence sharing with a signing ceremony.
What to watch
- Whether presidential assent lands on Myanmar's approved fraud bill, which would put custodial risk where the compounds actually sit.
- Which jurisdiction files first out of the overlapping cases the DOJ says are already identified, and whether the defendants are compound operators or money mules.
- Whether the NCA and DOJ name the exchanges and platforms that attend the October session, or keep the participant list private.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
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What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
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- [1]
The US Department of Justice announced on Sept. 3 that the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales and the UK National Crime Agency had signed a memorandum of understanding focused on cross-border enforcement against scam centre operations.
- [2]
The DOJ called the pact the first international cooperation agreement of its kind specifically designed to disable scam centres carrying out cryptocurrency and cyber-enabled investment fraud.
- [3]
Under the agreement the agencies will conduct parallel investigations into common targets, share information on organized crime syndicates and discuss which jurisdictions should prosecute specific cases.
- [4]
The DOJ said authorities have already identified overlapping cases of common interest.
- [5]
The agencies plan an in-person disruption operation with private-sector partners in London in early October, hosted by the National Crime Agency.
- [6]
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center data cited by the DOJ showed reported US losses from cyber-enabled investment fraud climbed 89% from $4.57 billion in 2023 to $8.65 billion in 2025.
- [7]
The Scam Center Strike Force, created by US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro in November 2025, has concentrated on Chinese organized crime groups accused of running compounds primarily across Southeast Asia.
- [8]
On April 29 the DOJ reported a Dubai police-led operation involving the FBI and China's Ministry of Public Security that resulted in 276 arrests and the closure of at least nine crypto scam centres, with six people charged.
- [9]
US authorities estimate such schemes are costing Americans approximately $10 billion a year.
- [10]
Cyber-enabled fraud accounted for almost 85% of all losses reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center last year.
- [11]
The DOJ cautioned that the loss figures were largely based on reports submitted by victims and could substantially understate actual losses because many fraud cases are never reported.
- [12]
During a May enforcement initiative organized by the Scam Center Strike Force, the NCA joined agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Thailand, along with private companies, to exchange information on scam infrastructure.
- [13]
The May operation resulted in the disruption of more than 1.4 million social media and email accounts, private companies froze more than $3.8 million in cryptocurrency linked to laundering funds stolen from Americans, seven suspected scammers were arrested in Thailand, and authorities disrupted servers and network connections.
- [14]
Coinbase froze over $3 million in cryptocurrency linked to Southeast Asian scam networks during the enforcement effort, and Meta, Microsoft and Starlink took action against accounts and infrastructure linked to suspected fraud operations.
- [15]
Myanmar's parliament approved a bill on July 28 proposing sentences ranging from 10 years to life in prison for digital currency fraud, with the death penalty possible when people coerced into working at scam centres were killed; presidential assent had not been confirmed.
- [16]
Growth from $4.57 billion in 2023 to $8.65 billion in 2025 is a compound annual rate of about 38%.
- [17]
The more than $3.8 million frozen in the May operation equals about 0.044% of the $8.65 billion in cyber-enabled investment fraud losses reported for 2025.
- [18]
Coinbase's freeze of over $3 million accounts for roughly 79% of the more than $3.8 million frozen by private companies in the May operation.
- [19]
The $10 billion annual cost estimate exceeds the $8.65 billion of reported 2025 losses by about 16%.
- [20]
If $8.65 billion of investment fraud sits inside a cyber-enabled fraud category that was almost 85% of all losses reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center last year, total reported losses were at least about $10.2 billion.
- [21]
More than 1.4 million accounts disrupted against seven arrests in Thailand works out at roughly 200,000 accounts per arrest.
Sources
2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- cointelegraph.comUS, UK launch joint alliance targeting crypto scam centers
2 articles · September 4, 2026
- crypto.newsUS, UK join forces to target crypto scam centers and investment fraud
1 article · September 4, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- Investment fraud
- Crypto scam centres
- Cross-Border Law Enforcement