Scam Center Strike Force restrains $52M in laundered crypto in one day

The DOJ’s Scam Center Strike Force had a busy Tuesday. On September 9, 2026, the task force restrained approximately $52 million in laundered crypto assets in a single day, targeting a platform called Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language marketplace on Telegram that functioned essentially as a one-stop shop for fraud infrastructure.

What actually happened

The same day the funds were frozen, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Xinbi Guarantee along with two affiliated entities, Anwen and SafeW Technology, designating all three as significant transnational criminal organizations.

Tether, the issuer of the world’s most widely used stablecoin, cooperated with investigators to identify and lock down the relevant wallets.

Simultaneously, a two-week operation in Madagascar dismantled 13 Chinese-run scam compounds, resulting in roughly 400 to 500 arrests.

The compounds rely on forced labor, people trafficked under false promises of legitimate jobs who are then coerced into running fraud scripts. The scam type most associated with these operations is called pig butchering, where fraudsters cultivate romantic or investment relationships over weeks or months before convincing victims to transfer funds into fake platforms.

The Strike Force’s broader scorecard

The Strike Force launched in November 2025 under D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, with the FBI and U.S. Secret Service among its federal collaborators. The September 9 operation pushed its cumulative total to $938 million in frozen or seized scam-related assets, a figure that represents less than a year of operational work.

What this means for crypto markets and compliance

The Tether cooperation piece deserves its own analysis. Tether has come under sustained scrutiny over the years from critics who argue its stablecoin infrastructure has been used to move illicit funds. The company has pushed back consistently, pointing to its track record of freezing wallets at law enforcement request. This operation adds another data point to that argument.

The $52 million restraint happening in a single day reflects a maturation in law enforcement’s technical capacity. Agencies are identifying wallets, coordinating with private-sector firms, and executing restraint orders in compressed timeframes, reducing the window during which fraudsters can move funds to safety.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.