DOJ Strike Force Takes Down Chinese Scam Marketplace, Restraints $52M in Crypto
The U.S. Department of Justice's Scam Center Strike Force, working in tandem with the Treasury Department, took down Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language scam marketplace operating on Telegram, and restrained over $52 million in cryptocurrency.
The operation marked a significant milestone for the Strike Force, which has now restrained around $938 million since its inception. The takedown also brought to light the vast scope of Xinbi's operations, with Chainalysis estimating that the platform had processed nearly $20 billion in crypto between 2021 and 2025.
Xinbi operated as a kind of marketplace where vendors advertised services to scam center operators, including building custom fraud investment websites, 'washing' money stolen through wire fraud, and recruiting trafficking victims to staff scam compounds. Investigators were able to trace specific victim funds to vendors who posted wallet addresses on the channel.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) designated Xinbi a transnational criminal organization, freezing any property it holds in the U.S. Alongside the Xinbi action, the Strike Force also helped authorities in Madagascar take down 13 Chinese-run scam compounds, further demonstrating its commitment to dismantling Chinese organized crime.