Bitcoinist
May 6, 2026 4:00 AM UTC

Coinbase Targets Crypto Crime, Freezing $3M Linked To Scam Operations

Coinbase moved to freeze more than $3 million in crypto linked to scam networks operating across Southeast Asia, a move that came as US authorities and private firms widened a joint campaign against fraud rings that have drained billions from Americans. The freeze was announced during Disruption Week , a coordinated push led by the DOJ’s Scam Center Strike Force. Multi-Agency Push According to Coinbase , the effort pulled in government agencies and private companies to hit the fraud chain at several points at once, from online accounts to money flows and physical sites. The exchange said no single company or agency could stop the crews on its own. The company said the work involved social platforms, financial institutions, connectivity providers, and law enforcement working together, while the Justice Department framed the action as part of a broader strike against Southeast Asian criminal organizations . Officials said those groups have defrauded Americans of billions of dollars. Accounts, Servers, And Arrests Meta, Microsoft, and Starlink were among the private firms named in the operation, helping take down servers and other hosting tools linked to the scam networks. Authorities also said more than 1.4 million social media and email accounts were disrupted, and the Royal Thai Police Anti-Cyber Scam Center made arrests tied to the effort. Today, through @USAttyPirro & our Scam Center Strike Force, the DOJ announced results from its first-of-its-kind “Disruption Week,” partnering with the private sector to crush Southeast Asian cyber/crypto fraud. Key impacts:– 1.4M+ scam accounts disrupted– $3.8M in crypto… — U.S. Attorney DC (@USAO_DC) June 3, 2026 The scam pattern is familiar, but the scale keeps climbing. The DOJ said investment fraud and pig butchering remain among the fastest-growing and most damaging scams aimed at Americans, and the FBI reported earlier this month that losses from crypto- and AI-related scams in 2025 topped $11 billion, with investment scams causing the most damage. Another part of the same push came in April, when the Scam Center Strike Force and its partners restrained more than $701 million in crypto tied to investment scams. Authorities have also carried out other crackdowns this year, including actions in Dubai and Albania, as pressure on scam infrastructure spread beyond Southeast Asia. Crypto’s Place In The Crackdown Coinbase also argued that blockchain gives investigators a permanent record of transactions, a point it used to push back on the idea that crypto is only a tool for crime. The coalition behind the operation included the FBI, the US Secret Service, and law enforcement partners in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Thailand. The latest freeze fits a pattern of steady pressure on scam centers rather than one-off arrests. Officials have kept aiming at websites, messaging channels, servers, and the money trail itself, hoping to cut off the machinery that lets these fraud rings keep running. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView