U.S. Shuts Down Xinbi Guarantee, Freezes $52.8 Million in Cryptocurrency

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has taken significant action against an illicit online marketplace called Xinbi Guarantee, which offered scam services and laundered cryptocurrency. The DoJ seized Telegram channels used to run the service, confiscated two cryptocurrency wallets, and deployed the Scam Center Strike Force to Madagascar to disrupt 13 scam compounds run by Chinese organized crime syndicates.

Approximately $52 million of cryptocurrency involved in scam money laundering was restrained in one day, bringing the total restrained by the Scam Center Strike Force to approximately $938 million. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has also sanctioned the Chinese-language media for facilitating cyber scams, fraud, money laundering, and other criminal activity targeting Americans.

Xinbi Guarantee is a Telegram-oriented marketplace that rose to prominence following the closure of two similar storefronts last year. It acts as an intermediary between vendors and scam center operators running 'pig butchering' romance scams, effectively turning it into a one-stop shop for various services, including creating custom scam investment websites and laundering funds scammers obtain from victims of wire fraud.

The Justice Department announced that the Scam Center Strike Force will expand its scope to target scam center compounds globally going forward. This has resulted in the takedown of 13 scam centers in Madagascar, with more than 3,200 electronic devices and investigations opened based on interviews with nearly 400 arrestees.