WATCH LIVE: DOJ Scam Center Strike Force cracks down on 'Chinese-run illicit scam marketplace'

Good morning everyone. Uh I'm Janine. Piro and I am joined this morning by uh. Lisa Palakone who is with the Department. of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets. Control Deputy Director uh with United. States Secret Service Special Agent Tara. Mcccle as well as FBI Criminal Division. Deputy Assistant Director Matthew Floyd. uh Karen Seafford who is the director of. my strike force along with Rick. Bllelock.

Where's Rick? Rick Bllelock from my office who's in. charge of assets for Come on back here. Rick. You never know. I may need you for. advice or something. Anyway, these are all people who are. very much involved in what we're going. to talk about and I think they need to. be recognized for the work that they do. In November of last year, as the United. States Attorney for the District of. Columbia, I created the first strike.

force in the nation that was devoted to. combating enterprises. that are at a level of scam that we have. never seen before run by transnational. criminal organizations. They are. stealing, conning, and scamming. Americans out of their life savings. And. since that time, we've made enormous. strides in fighting a previously unknown. and unidentified. network of overseas criminals who are.

focused on us and our money. This is not. a distant overseas crime story. It is an. industrial extraction of American. savings run by Chinese transnational. criminal enterprises and platforms. It. is an extraction of American savings run. by these organized crime groups using. United States platforms, United States.

banks and United States victims as the. product. This is a generational wealth. uh transfer from main street America to. Chinese organized crime and it is done. via a slave labor industry in the. compounds. So, Americans are being. industrially looted and the people doing. the looting are creating factories to. facilitate their con. The factories are. primarily in Southeast Asia and there.

are now moving across the globe because. they know we're coming for them and they. are staffed with human traffked labor. These are not basement scammers. These are factories. They are compounds. that have quotas, shifts, they beat the. people working there, and they even have. balance sheets. Now, President Trump. made this a priority in March of 2026. when he signed an executive order making.

it clear that he wanted to combat cyber. crime and fraud and predatory schemes. against American citizens. and he has. given us the ability and the resources. that we need to fight this particular. kind of blight. And if you don't think. this affects you, a little primmer, seven out of 10 adults globally have. encountered a scam one way or another. They are repeatedly trying to rip you.

off. They are in Southeast Asia and. there are hundreds of as I said. industrialcale scam compounds and the. estimates put their earnings at about. $40 billion a year. That is $40 billion. from unwitting victims. And according to. the Department of State, 12 billion. alone is from Americans. Yet the truth. is that most victims don't even file a. report. They don't know who to report.

the crime to and they're either too. embarrassed or too ashamed. And so we. don't even know the extent of this kind. of crime. But last week I spoke to two. victims uh of scams that we are. investigating. I thought you'd be interested in the. stories. One man faced an imminent. foreclosure of his home after falling. prey to a crypto investment scheme. He. is a single father of three children,

one of whom is disabled, and he. struggles every month to try to make the. mortgage payments and to pay for. medicine. When the agents first. contacted him, I believe it was the FBI, to tell him that he was in the middle of. a scam, he was moments away from taking. out yet another loan from his credit. union. At that point, he had lost nearly. all of his life savings, and he was on. the brink of losing his home. Because.

his part-time work affected his. eligibility for Social Security. benefits, his young daughter, as soon as. she was old enough, got herself a job at. Walmart to help cover the bills. The. work the DOJ has done, he said, has. helped tremendously keeping my mortgage. creditors off my back until I can get my. money back. It's been a hard road and I. feel, he said, that it's my fault. It.

was embarrassing, but it was good to. hear from others that I'm not the only. one. Another victim that I think you. might find interesting is a medical. doctor. He was recently uh made a uh a. widow a widowerower and he was defrauded. out of a large sum of money. He is about. to sell his home to move I believe to. another state to marry the love of his. life who he met online. He believed he.

had found love again. His family was. upset with him. They didn't want him to. sell the home. They didn't want him to. move. And he said that he felt that. there was something wrong, but he was. lonely, he said, and vulnerable and. isolated until our agents intervened. Quote, "It wasn't until the agent. stepped in and called that I realized I. was in the middle of a scam. The scammer.

posing as his new love interest. repeatedly urged him to move their. conversations onto apps like WhatsApp to. avoid detection. Fortunately, he's now reunited with his. family. But the interesting thing is he. said, "I didn't want to believe it was a. scam because why would someone spend so. much time invested in just me?" goes to. show you the lengths that they go to to. steal our money. Now, what have we done?

We've already restrained nearly a. billion dollars for victims. We have. taken down more than 500 scam sites. We. have charged managers and launderers. And we are working with our private. industry partners and they are Google, Meta, Tether, Coinbase. And we're not. only going after the Chinese organized. criminal enterprises, but the networks. and the infrastructure that make them uh.

give them the ability to conduct their. crime. Curious. curious that so many of these illicit. operations are functioning on telegraph. We demand better. So today we announce significant actions. against Shinbi Guarantee Network. This. is an illicit scamming marketplace as. alleged in our seizure warrant. Shinby.

marketplace over has over 650,000 users. It's housed on Telegram and it's where. vendors market their services to scam. us. The telegram channel operates. primarily in Chinese. The vendors post. available services on the telegram. channel to create and they include. creating custom scam investment. websites, laundering websites, which is.

really washing our money that the. scammers obtain from us. and they. solicit trafficking victims to work in. the scam compounds in Southeast Asia. Once the scammer purchases a service. from the vendor, Shimbi holds the money. for the vendor until the vendor services. are complete to assure the scammers that. the vendors will perform the service. It. is a double protection to make sure that.

Americans are scammed properly and. unwittingly. It's simple. They build the site. They. steal the wire. They wash the money. And. now we understand it. And we're going. after every link in the chain, dismantling every part of the chain. So, Shimi sells tools of indust industrial. fraud, including customuilt fake. investment websites designed to look.

like real brokerages and hosted on our. infrastructure, the infrastructure that. we Americans use. But yesterday, my. office uh issued a warrant, a signed. warrant to seize the telegram channels. where these vendors conduct their. business and hawk their illicit service. to scammers. We also worked with Tether. to seize the cryptocurrency. wallets where the scammers are sending. payments to Shinby in order to hold.

those payments for the vendors providing. the scam infrastructure services. And. yesterday, in coordination with the. Department of Treasury and with. assistance from Tether, we restrained in. one day approximately 52 million in. cryptocurrency that was in wallets used. across the Shimi network and used by its. vendors. And you will hear shortly about. the Treasury Department designating. Shimi as a significant transnational.

criminal organization. And as a result of these actions by. OFAC, all property and interests in. property of these sanctioned entities. that are in the United States are in the. possession or control of persons in the. US are blocked and must be reported to. OFAC. So my office along with Secret. Service and FBI partners are going to. continue to fight the scourge. taking. down the networks. Uh it should be no.

surprise these networks are spreading. across the globe. They're no longer uh. just centered in Southeast Asia. They. now operate in hubs across Asia, the. Middle East, Africa, and Central. America. victims are now being. trafficked from over 60 countries and. held in compounds where you and I don't. really know what's going on in those. compounds. And that's the one thing I'd. like to find out going forward. So,

we're keeping up with them. And in fact, for the last two weeks, my strike force. has deployed a team to Madagascar to. assist local law enforcement in cracking. down on 13 Chinese run scam centers in. that country, leading to the arrest of. 500 scammers. We spent two weeks. processing more than 3,200 electronic. devices. You can see right there uh. opening our own investigation into at. least 30 Chinese leaders of the scam. compounds who were interestingly quickly.

repatriated to China by the Chinese. government. They know exactly what we're. doing and they're trying to keep a pace. Now, Chinese interference is not going. to stop our investigation. We're going. to follow the leads wherever they take. us to the top of these organized crime. syn syndicates. And so you know how hard we're working. Last week I signed anou between the scam. center strike force and one of our. oldest allies, the United Kingdom. I met.

with Ambassador Christian Turner along. with the director of the National Crime. Agency as well as the chief crown. prosecutor of the UK uh to discuss our. agreement to partner our resources and. work together. I started the strike. force because I got tired of reading. about Americans who did everything right. and they lost all of their life savings. I got tired of hearing about. goodnatured, polite Americans who engage. in conversations with unknown people and.

feel that it's their obligation to. answer questions and they get trapped in. these conversation. One man who was too embarrassed to tell. his kids he lost everything. So he hung. himself and there wasn't enough money. for his kids to bury him. I do not. accept this as the cost of doing digital. business. We will not stop until we put. an end to this. And so now I'd like to. introduce the Department of Treasury. OFAC Director Lisa Palakcomi. Lisa,

>> thank you so much. judge bureau. As the judge mentioned today, the Office. of Foreign Assets Control is sanctioning. as a significant transnational criminal. organization, ShenBI Guarantee, which operates a large. Southeast Asia-based open online. marketplace that connects scam center. operators, other sanctioned persons with. merchants that support their criminal.

schemes against American victims. Shimi Guarantee has processed tens of. billions of dollars in recent years. through its online platform. It's linked. to previously sanctioned fraudsters, North Korean hackers and other criminal. syndicates. We are also sanctioning today two. companies that provide material support. to the operations of ShenBI guarantee. and its criminal enterprise.

Secretary Besson has been clear that the. Treasury Department will continue to use. all tools available at its disposal to. crack down on financial fraud, including. against the foreign actors who continue. to target hardworking Americans. Today's action, which was made possible. by ongoing coordination with our law. enforcement partners together with those. on stage today, reflect the Treasury's. efforts to disrupt a broader scam center.

ecosystem. Since the beginning of the of President. Trump's second term, OFAC has taken. action against over 200 individuals and. entities connected with these overseas. scam center operations, disrupting the. facilitators, the operators, and the. infrastructure that enable their. criminal enterprise. We will continue to work in lock step. with our law enforcement partners both. here and abroad to disrupt these. networks and help protect the American.

people. >> And uh FBI Criminal Division Deputy. Assistant Director Matthew Floyd. >> Good morning. I'm Matthew Floyd, the. deputy assistant director for the White. Collar branch of the FBI's criminal. division. I want to begin by thanking US. attorney bureau and the men and women of. the US attorney's office for the. District of Columbia for their leaders. leadership of the scam center strike.

force and their continued partnership. with the FBI. I'm proud to stand with. our partners today and reaffirm the. FBI's commitment to confronting this. growing threat to the American people. The scale of this problem is. significant. In 2025, the FBI's criminal. complaint center, IC3, received more. than 1 million complaints with reported. losses exceeding 20.8 billion. Nearly 17.7 billion in losses were. associated with cyber enabled fraud.

But those numbers don't necessarily. fully capture the impact of these. crimes. Behind every one of them is a. story and a victim. someone's retirement savings, a down payment on a home, a child's college fund, money that may. have taken a lifetime to save and that. can disappear in just a matter of. minutes. What the American public should. understand is that many of these crimes. are not being committed by isolated.

individuals. They are being driven by. sophisticated transnational criminal. organizations operating at scale, including scam compounds throughout. Southeastern Asia. We cannot fight these. organizations one victim and one fraud. at a time. We have to attack the. criminal enterprise behind the fraud. Our strategy is straightforward. Prevent. these crimes where we can. disrupt the. infrastructure that makes them possible. and dismantle the criminal organizations.

behind them. Since its launch, the. strike force has focused on some of the. most significant scam centers in. Southeast Asia, targeting these leaders, including Chinese organized crime groups. operating in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. The FBI has committed substantial. resources to that effort. Today more. than 13 FBI field offices are conducting. strike force investigations. supported by five law enforcement atache.

offices in key international hotspots. such as Bangkok, Panampen, Koala Lumpar, New Delhi and Oprah. But our efforts. don't stop with people operating these. scams. We're going after the broader. criminal ecosystem. the people, the. money, the technology, and the. infrastructure that allow these. organizations to operate and victimize. Americans from thousands of miles away. The recent actions against Shinbi, led. by our Chicago field office, and the.

deployment of our agents from our. Honolulu field office to Madagascar, demonstrate exactly that, the FBI's. expertise from across the country to. dismantle critical infrastructure. supporting these scam center activity. Our international partnerships are also. indispensable. They strengthen. information sharing, improve. coordination with foreign law. enforcement, and allow our. investigations to follow the criminals, their money, their money, and the. infrastructures across borders. In 2025.

alone, the FBI's financial fraud kill. chain helped freeze approximately 679. million in fraudulent transfers. These. are meaningful results, but there's. another part of this fight where the. public can't help us. We say speed matters. If you believe. you've been victimized, report it. immediately. The sooner the FBI knows, the greater the opportunity to trace the. funds, disrupt the transaction, identify.

the criminal network, and potentially. prevent others from becoming victims. The FBI remains fully committed to this. fight. Together with our partners here. today and around the world, we will. continue to disrupt these networks, protect the American people, and pursue. those responsible wherever they operate. all over the globe. If you believe you. have been a victim, please report it to. ic3.gov. That's ic3.gov. Thank you very much for your time.

>> And now to uh US Special Agent in. charge, Terry police. secret service. Ma'am, uh today's announcement is the. result of months of diligence and. persistence by investigative teams at. the Washington field office, the Secret. Services Criminal Investigative. Division, and our private sector. partners along with the agency standing. here this morning. For years, the Jinbei.

network has operated as a payment. processor for criminals who cannot use. legitimate payment platforms to access. funds they've scammed from everyday. Americans. Restraining and forfeiting their assets, coupled with the sanctions just. announced, represents a significant blow. to this criminal enterprise who believed. distance placed them beyond the reach of. United States law enforcement. As I speak, members of the Secret. Service trace these elicit funds and we.

are working with legitimate. cryptocurrency operators to find digital. wallets believed to be associated with. Jinby. Jinby was an instrument scammers used as. they prayed on victims across the. country. In one case, a Virginia. resident reported losing nearly $800,000. after transferring funds to an. individual who presented an unsolicited. investment opportunity on social media. Our team was able to follow the funds as.

they were laundered through the Jinbei. guarantee network. Our advice is to. always be weary of unsolicited. investment pitches. And while freezing. 52 million is something our agencies can. be proud of, it is also a stark reminder. of the ability of scammers and the. threat they continue to pose to the. American people. The United States. Secret Service has been investigating. financial crimes since 1865. And as has. evolved from plastic from paper and. plastic to bits and bites. So have the.

criminals seeking to exploit it. We will. remain on the front lines of this fight. The methods of fraud may change, but our. resolve does not. I want to thank our. partners at the Department of Treasury's. Office of Foreign Assets Control and the. Treasury Executive Office for Asset. Forefeite for their continuous. collaboration and outstanding support as. we work together to track down money. stolen from Americans being sheltered. halfway around the globe. And I want to. thank Judge Pero for her continued.

leadership of the scam centered strike. force. Under her direction, we have. brought to bear the full weight of the. federal government against a criminal. threat many considered too complex, too. dispersed, and too difficult to. confront. Thank you. >> Thank you, Tara. Uh, you know, the work that we're doing. couldn't be done without the Secret. Service and the FBI. We work together. We partner. It's complicated. It's long.

It's deep. But the impact on Americans. is enormous and it will only get bigger. They are emboldened with the more money. they steal from us and we have to. continue to fight this scourge. So, I. want to thank my partners, Secret. Service, FBI, uh, who've been with me. from the beginning for their support. I. also want to thank my friend Michael. Haymon who's the United States attorney. in Alaska uh who has uh we brought in to.

join us on these cases. And as we go. forward, we'll be working with US. attorneys in different parts of the. country where we think the victims in. that jurisdiction are impacted. And I. want to thank the Treasury Department. that has always maintained a coordinated. collaboration with the strike force. And. finally, if you know someone. that thinks they've got an opportunity. that's too good to be true,

that they've been contacted by someone. who's got the in on cryptocurrency, because none of us really understand. cryptocurrency. as much as we'd like to. And that. includes, I'll bet, everyone in this. room. You got to tell them to stop. Whether it started on a mistaken phone. call or WhatsApp or any of the other. social media websites, a text, a wrong. number. Do not send a dollar. Do not.

send a penny. File a report at ic3.gov. Tell your bank and tell us. Questions, not you. >> How much money have you been able to. repatriate the or or give back to these. victims. >> Well, we have almost a billion dollars. that we've seized and it's now up to the. courts and trying to get the money.

identified that can be released and who. it will be released to. That is a. process that we're in the middle of. right now. It's very complicated. We may. need Congress to assist us with. legislation on that to get the money to. the victims. Uh but we are as uh focused. on that as we are on the Chinese. transnational organizations. Yes. >> President Trump says he wants you to. revisit the reflect. >> Why did I know that was coming? That's. why I didn't call on you first.

>> Are you going to? And if not, why? >> Well, first of all, I'm here to talk. about one of the biggest problems that. American people have right now. And I'm. not going to talk about any other issue. I know you'd love to, but I'm not going. President Trump has made clear this is. very important to him. >> And you know the president has the right. to decide what he wants to do and what. is important and what he's shown us. already is that through the executive. order that this cryptocurrency fraud on.

Americans is a priority. There is an. executive order and there is a focus. with resources for us to do it. Next, not on the pool. >> I have a question about this. How you know you talked about the. telegram channel they're sanctioning. this entity in China I believe how easy. is it for them to move to another. channel or set up another operation with. you know all these devices. >> it's very easy I mean look old crimes. are being committed in new ways all.

right they've got this figured out and. it took us a while to understand where. it was coming from who was doing it how. they were doing it and now that we. understand it we will keep pace and we. will beat them. But we're talking about. slave labor. We're talking about people. are trafficked from 60 or 80 countries. They respond to a job. They literally. get taken, their passports are taken. from them. They're taken to basically a. slave compound. And if they don't make.

the quota, they're beaten or worse or. their families are threatened in other. parts uh of the world. I mean, this is a. very uh sophisticated uh organization. and what we've got to try to do and we. will we will put an end to it. Make no. mistake. >> Yes. >> Right now, this is a seizure warrant. What we've got is we've seized the. monies and that's one day. We are.

continuing to do this and in Madagascar. we are continuing to investigate and. work with foreign countries. Next week. you'll hear about some of the leaders uh. not in this particular case uh that we. that we are taking and indicting. >> the other case you announced yesterday. Um were there others. in that. details about that?

Which one was. >> coconspirators? >> Yeah. [clears throat]. >> Oh, he was the last of the. co-conspirators. I believe that there. were other co-conspirators that we had. already indicted and I'm happy to give. you those facts uh specific facts if you. want them. He was the last of the group. Great. Yeah. >> What challenges does that present? >> Absolutely. Absolutely. and you.

recognize that there are challenges when. we're talking about people from other. parts of the world. I talked about the. fact that, you know, China immediately. repatriated their people. And so what. we're doing is we are working with other. countries and even though we now have. theou with the UK to work with them, there are other countries that we have. met with who are willing to sign a. letter of intent to work with us. part. of the focus on those letters of intent. or letters of agreement, you know, whether they're with, you know, Thailand.

or Singapore or any of the other. countries that we dealt with, what. they're willing to do is consider the. immigration issue and how some of these. cases need to be prioritized so we can. bring these defendants to the United. States to be prosecuted. But that is a. problem, but it's not too big for us to. solve. >> And then just briefly on. >> No, I'm not going there. Don't even go. there. That's why I didn't call you. You. and I have this relationship and I'm not. going there.

>> Anyone else? >> Yes, sir. >> Trayon White goes to court on Friday. You'll be able to pick a jury there. >> Yes. >> How concerned are you about the comments. he made on social media and how. confident are you can still get a. conviction? >> Look, it's up to a jury to decide. whether or not we prove a case. unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt uh. to 12 people on a jury. they'll decide. that. Uh, you know, I I think that uh. and and I have to be careful here. I.

think that when you have a defendant. who's out there pretty much pitching to. get people on the jury, that is a. concern and I think the judge made it. clear that that was a concern, but I'm. not going to say more than that. It's in. the courts. See what happens. >> You want sanctions against him. >> Uh, we asked the judge to stop him from. doing that. Uh, normally that's not. something you do. defendant is go out. there and try to you know drum up some. business or get people on the jury or. you know but teach his own I guess.

>> No. >> no and no. Who wants to know about this? >> How many times do I have to say no? >> I am not talking about that. >> Anyone want to talk about this case? >> Want to talk about another thing? >> Oh, of course. >> The special grand jury on You know what? Do you hope it will? >> Oh, I can't wait to talk to you about. it, but I can't. It's called 6E. You. already know it, and you're trying to. get me to say something, and I'm not.

going. >> Put some stuff out there already on the. record. I tried. >> Yeah, you tried. >> The Chinese government knows that these. scam centers exist. And you said they. know exactly what they're doing. They're. trying to keep a pace. Have you briefed. President Trump on this? And do you. encourage him to bring this up to. President directly when they meet later. this month? >> What I talked to the president uh. clearly is not something I'm going to. discuss here at a press conference, but. the president is very much aware of the. scams and cryptocurrency fraud that is. being literally uh uh imposed upon.

Americans and he is well aware of the. dangers to Americans and you might want. to speak to him about that. >> Thank you. No, >> it's always. >> pleasure. Thanks, guys. Anyone else? Anyone? Thank you. >> All right.