U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is stepping up its crackdown on overseas cryptocurrency rip-off networks that concentrate on American traders by way of pretend funding platforms, fraudulent web sites, and on-line impersonation schemes.
During the White House cybercrime roundtable on the twenty first of October, Trump stated authorities had “frozen nearly $1 billion of cybercurrency tied to foreign scammers and shut down 500+ fraudulent websites.”
This comes as crypto scams proceed to surge all through 2026. In truth, in accordance with DeFiLlama information, losses in 2026 to this point have reached $2.345 billion throughout 305 incidents.
Steps taken by the Trump administration
Additionally, as of the fifteenth of October, the Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force reported roughly $938.5 million in restrained cryptocurrency. In different phrases, authorities have taken authorized steps to stop the motion or withdrawal of suspected prison funds.
However, it’s essential to notice that restrained funds usually are not essentially recovered funds, and the cash has not essentially been returned to victims.
Federal legislation enforcement has been in a position to warn over 10,000 Americans focused for victimization, and we’ve prevented $1.6 billion in losses — at the least — this 12 months.
The most important goal
That stated, the crackdown focuses on organized prison networks, significantly these working rip-off compounds throughout Southeast Asia. These operations typically contact victims by way of social media, relationship apps, textual content messages, and on-line commercials earlier than directing them to pretend cryptocurrency funding platforms.
To persuade clients, platforms show fabricated income to persuade victims to take a position more cash. Later, when victims try and withdraw their funds, scammers demand extra charges or taxes earlier than disappearing. In truth, there have been some rip-off compounds that additionally used trafficking victims compelled to work as on-line scammers.
One instance is the seizure of the area tickmilleas.com in December 2025. According to prosecutors, scammers allegedly used the web site to function a pretend cryptocurrency funding platform linked to a compound in Burma.
Separately, authorities restrained greater than $52 million in cryptocurrency linked to Xinbi Guarantee, a Telegram-based market allegedly offering companies comparable to cash laundering and instruments for creating fraudulent funding web sites. These actions present that enforcement is concentrating on not solely scammers themselves but in addition the infrastructure and monetary companies that assist them function.
The controversy that’s elevating eyebrows
Though the Trump administration is making an attempt to crack down on such scammer, the identical crackdown has additionally raised questions on political credibility. Reuters reported that Trump and his sons collected at the least $2.3 billion by way of their crypto ventures, whereas traders in these ventures reportedly suffered comparable losses.
In truth, in accordance with AMBCrypto’s recent report, Trump additionally made $1.4 billion revenue from crypto final 12 months.
At the identical time, Trump additionally pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in October 2025 after Binance pleaded responsible to anti-money-laundering violations.
All in all, the central contradiction is that the administration is promising stronger safety in opposition to crypto-related monetary scams whereas dealing with scrutiny over its personal cryptocurrency pursuits and choices.
This comes after the U.S. authorities signed an govt order creating the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, however hasn’t made any new Bitcoin purchases in 18 months.
Final Summary
- The crackdown focuses on organized prison networks, significantly these working rip-off compounds throughout Southeast Asia.
- Trump and his sons collected at the least $2.3 billion by way of their crypto ventures, whereas traders in these ventures reportedly suffered comparable losses.
