President Donald Trump planned to put special focus on his administration's efforts against overseas crypto-fueled criminal operations at a Wednesday event on cybercrime, according to a White House official. Crypto-related scams have stolen tens of billions from U.S. citizens, and Trump was set to highlight how much his administration is targeting and disrupting the transnational organizations behind it.
Multinational criminal cartels have set up elaborate scam centers designed to steal money through relationship scams, phishing campaigns, ransomware attacks and other fraudulent means. The official said the U.S. strategies to seize funds and shut down the operations would be discussed.
The administration says its law enforcement agencies have halted about $833 million in crypto connected to the overseas scams, and 503 fraudulent crypto websites have been seized under the watch of the Homeland Security Task Force. It has also informed almost 9,000 U.S. citizens that they are being victimized, the official said.
In November, the Department of the Treasury announced it had formed a multi-agency Scam Center Strike Force that pursued so-called "pig butchering" coordinated by widespread and well-funded organized-crime operations in places such as Burma, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines.
On the domestic front, however, Trump's personal crypto ties may have become a political liability. As the congressional midterm elections approach in a couple of weeks, digital assets have taken up a prominent role in self-dealing accusations levied against the president and his administration.