US Launches Interagency ‘Strike Force’ to Combat $135 Billion Crypto Fraud Epidemic
The U.S. government has announced a major, coordinated federal offensive against international crypto crime, launching the Scam Center Strike Force to dismantle complex "pig butchering" operations. This new initiative brings together the Department of Justice, FBI, Secret Service, U.S. Treasury, and other agencies in a unified effort to address what officials call a growing epidemic.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro highlighted the staggering scale of the problem, estimating these organized schemes have likely defrauded Americans out of $135 billion in 2024 alone. Pirro stated the mission is threefold: to charge the organizational leaders, to trace and seize stolen funds for victims (with $480 million already recovered by her office), and to disable the U.S. infrastructure used to facilitate the scams. Experts praised the move, noting that this coordinated, proactive strategy is a necessary shift from the piecemeal, reactive defense previously deployed against these sophisticated global crime networks.
