The seizure and freeze was carried out over a three-month period by the District of Columbia Fraud Task Force, which was established by U.S. Attorney Jane Pirro in November.
Officials at the US Department of Justice reported that they have “frozen, seized and confiscated more than $578 million worth of digital assets linked to criminal gangs” as part of the task force’s efforts targeting “fraud and fraud related to crypto-currency in Southeast Asia”.
In a warning on Thursday, the Department of Justice said the frozen and seized crypto was “stolen by Chinese transnational criminal organizations” using websites and social media platforms to target US residents. The actions were carried out by the District of Columbia Fraud Task Force, which was established in November by former Fox News host, now US Attorney Jane Pierro.
“Cryptocurrency seizure is an important part of the Scam Center Strike Force’s work,” Pirro said. “Through the legal process, my Office will seek to recover these funds and return them to the victims as much as possible.”
Pirro’s comments indicated that many of the funds will not be used to strengthen the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve and Digital Asset Reserve, which were created by order of US President Donald Trump in March 2025. According to BitcoinTreasuries.NET, US authorities may have up to 328,372 Bitcoin (BTC), but have not seized the White House’s various criminal amounts as of Friday.
related to: South Korea’s tax authorities busted the wallet and lost $4.8 million in seized tokens
Crypto scams are on the rise in 2025
According to blockchain analysis platform Chainalysis, in 2025, the number of crypto-related fraud incidents will increase by about 1,400% year-over-year. Many of the scams involved pig butchers and investment schemes, with the average amount stolen through scams increasing by 60% over the same period.
Some of the parties involved in the US went to prison. Earlier this month, a judge sentenced a man to 20 years in prison for masterminding a fraud scheme to steal more than $73 million from victims, many of whom lived in the US.
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