Coinbase froze more than $3 million in cryptocurrency linked to Southeast Asia cyber-enabled crypto scam networks as part of a coordinated law enforcement and tech company operation, the exchange said on June 4.
The action was part of Disruption Week, a campaign led by the US Department of Justice’s Scam Center Strike Force. The operation involved Meta, Microsoft, Starlink, the FBI, US Secret Service, Royal Thai Police Anti-Cyber Scam Center, and law enforcement partners in the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
“This operation is proof that scammers can’t be stopped by any single company or agency acting alone,” Coinbase said in a statement. “It took social platforms, financial institutions, connectivity providers, and law enforcement working in lockstep to hit these networks at nearly every point in the fraud chain, online accounts, financial flows, and physical infrastructure all at once.”
Scale of the Crackdown
The Coinbase freeze is part of a broader international enforcement push. In April 2026, the US Scam Center Strike Force and law enforcement partners froze more than $701 million in cryptocurrency linked to investment scams. A Dubai police-led international crackdown on scam rings resulted in the arrest of 276 individuals and the shutdown of at least nine crypto scam centers. Austrian and Albanian authorities, with support from Europol and Eurojust, arrested 10 people in connection with three scam centers in Tirana, Albania.
The coordinated actions targeted investment fraud and pig butchering, which the US Department of Justice identified as among the fastest-growing and most financially devastating forms of fraud targeting Americans. The FBI reported that Americans’ losses from crypto- and AI-related scams in 2025 exceeded $11 billion, with investment scams the most damaging category.
The operation disrupted 1.4 million social media and email accounts used in the fraud schemes.
Tech Companies and Transparency
Meta said the operation benefited from “actionable insights” shared across platforms, which helped “connect the dots between disparate pieces of information across platforms. The collective effort of these tech companies enabled the operation to target and disrupt criminals at nearly every point in the fraud chain.”
Coinbase emphasized the role of blockchain transparency in law enforcement. “We know crypto sometimes gets an unfair reputation when it comes to illicit finance. The reality is the opposite,” Coinbase said. “Blockchain technology gives law enforcement something traditional financial systems often can’t: a transparent, immutable and permanent record of every transaction.”
The operation underscores a shift in 2026 toward international coordination on scam infrastructure. Authorities have targeted scam centers across multiple regions, with joint actions involving the US, UAE, China, Austria, and Albania.
