FBI Seizes $8 Billion in Crypto in Largest U.S. Forfeiture Ever

The FBI seized over $8B in crypto and arrested 300 suspects in a global crackdown on scam compounds across Asia and the Middle East.

The FBI has pulled off its biggest financial move yet. The bureau seized over $8 billion in crypto and arrested nearly 300 suspects in a sweeping global operation. 

The crackdown targeted scam compounds across Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and the UAE. 

According to Fox News, officials described it as the largest crypto forfeiture in U.S. government history. Nearly 2,000 people allegedly forced to work in these centers were also freed.

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FBI’s Record-Breaking Crypto Seizure Targets Global Scam Networks

The centerpiece of the operation was the arrest of Chen Zhi, CEO of Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group. 

Fox News reports the FBI confiscated more than 127,000 bitcoin from Zhi alone. That amount was worth over $8 billion at the time, and possibly as much as $15 billion by some estimates. Zhi now faces federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

FBI Director Kash Patel addressed the scale of the operation directly. 

He added that the bureau freed nearly 2,000 trafficked workers and shut down over $8 billion in scam center fraud activity.

The overarching effort, called Operation Blackout, covered at least four separate investigations. These included Operation Zephyr Exodus, targeting the Prince Holding Group, and Operation Sand Dollar, which focused on scam compounds in the UAE. 

Each operation zeroed in on groups allegedly linked to Chinese organized crime and specifically targeting American citizens.

In Dubai alone, local police and the FBI arrested 275 people. Six of those suspects face extradition to the United States to answer federal charges. Fox News reports each of the nine Dubai compounds allegedly pulled in $6 million in fraud proceeds annually.

Human Trafficking and Forced Labor Fueled These Crime Operations

Beyond the financial crime, the human cost of these compounds was staggering. Some groups allegedly relied on trafficked individuals to run their scam operations. 

Recruiters reportedly lured victims with promises of legitimate jobs and work visas, then used threats of beatings and torture to force compliance.

Operation Haochen focused on the Tai Chang scam compound in Kyaukhat, Myanmar, an area controlled by the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA). 

The DKBA is a U.S. Treasury-sanctioned armed militia with alleged ties to Chinese organized crime. The U.S. government has designated it a transnational criminal organization.

The FBI seized $30 million tied to Tai Chang and connected compounds during that operation. 

A separate takedown in Thailand, the Shunda Compound Takedown, involved a joint task force with Thai partners. That effort led to two arrests and the seizure of a Telegram channel used to recruit forced labor into a Cambodian law enforcement impersonation scam.

One victim lost $3 million to a romance scam tied to these networks. 

The report notes other fraud schemes have been linked to multiple suicides, with extortion cases historically targeting teenagers. These figures illustrate just how far the damage from these operations extended into everyday lives.

Operation Level Up Alerts Thousands of Fraud Victims Before It’s Too Late

On top of enforcement, the FBI launched a proactive initiative called Operation Level Up. 

The program identifies active victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud and notifies them before they lose more money. So far, the FBI has reached 8,935 victims through the effort.

Remarkably, 77 percent of those contacted had no idea they were being scammed. The notifications have already prevented an estimated $562 million in losses. That figure alone speaks to how sophisticated and convincing these fraud operations had become.

The entire operation grew out of complaints filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) throughout 2025. 

IC3 received nearly 72,000 complaints that year detailing losses exceeding $7.5 billion in crypto investment fraud. The FBI believes those numbers significantly underrepresent the true scale of the problem.

The bureau also partnered with Starlink during the crackdown. The FBI shared geolocation data with the Elon Musk-owned satellite company to pinpoint terminals linked to fraud. Starlink then suspended more than 7,000 terminals in Myanmar as a result. 

According to the United States Institute of Peace, criminal syndicates of this nature steal roughly $64 billion every year globally.

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