scam

According to Cointelegraph, the joint law enforcement operation "Operation Atlantic" by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada was completed in March this year, led by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA). Over $12 million in suspected fraud proceeds were frozen, and more than 20,000 victims were identified, with a total fraud amount exceeding $45 million.This operation focused on authorized phishing attacks—a scam technique that induces users to sign malicious authorizations, thereby allowing attackers to transfer tokens from the wallet. Binance participated by providing account screening and fraud intelligence support, but no funds were frozen from its platform.

Binance announced its participation in the international law enforcement operation "Operation Atlantic," led by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), in collaboration with multiple countries' law enforcement agencies to combat cryptocurrency and investment fraud, focusing on "approval phishing" scams.The operation was jointly initiated by the NCA, the U.S. Secret Service, and relevant law enforcement and regulatory agencies in Ontario, Canada, aiming to identify victims who have been compromised or are at risk. Approval phishing typically disguises itself as an investment opportunity, luring users into granting wallet access permissions, thereby transferring assets. During the operation, Binance's special investigation team provided on-site support in London, including fraud identification processes, risk screening, and intelligence analysis, and assisted in identifying potential victims and related malicious websites.At the same time, Binance also provided law enforcement agencies with addresses and suspect intelligence related to the case, supporting asset tracking and enforcement actions. The NCA stated that this operation has successfully protected thousands of potential victims in the UK and overseas. Binance emphasized that it will continue to cooperate with global law enforcement agencies to strengthen the fight against cryptocurrency fraud.

According to CoinDesk, the Financial Services Commission of South Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service jointly issued new regulations requiring all domestic cryptocurrency exchanges to adopt a unified withdrawal delay review standard to curb voice phishing scams.The new regulations eliminate the authority of each exchange to set its own withdrawal exemption conditions, and reviews will be conducted uniformly based on standards such as account history, trading patterns, and behavioral anomalies. It is expected that less than 1% of users will qualify for instant withdrawals. Platforms must also enhance identity verification and fund flow monitoring.Previously, scam groups exploited the exemption rules of various platforms to guide victims to convert cash into cryptocurrency and complete withdrawals within minutes. This new regulation marks a shift in South Korea's cryptocurrency risk control system from industry self-regulation to a national unified standard.

The Department of Homeland Security's official account pointed out that "token scams" are emerging one after another, especially illegal financial activities such as "holding tokens to get rich" and "making profits from off-exchange trading," which may be exploited by foreign espionage and intelligence agencies to harm national economic security. In the face of new technologies and applications, we must actively embrace and effectively utilize them while also preventing risks and ensuring safety, including risks of leakage and hijacking, risks of forgery and tampering, and risks of fraud traps.In the face of the token craze, we must view its value rationally, pay attention to information security and privacy security, and enhance our awareness of safety precautions, ensuring that we understand tokens and use them wisely.

According to Decrypt, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut announced that it has recovered and seized over $600,000 in cryptocurrency after a Ledger hardware wallet user fell victim to a phishing scam, being lured into performing a so-called security check by a letter impersonating "Ledger Security and Compliance," resulting in approximately $234,000 in crypto assets being stolen.The FBI and state police tracked the flow of funds, successfully seizing about $600,000 in USDT and filing a civil forfeiture lawsuit, alleging that the source of the funds involved wire fraud and money laundering. It is reported that this is one of a series of phishing incidents targeting hardware wallet users, where scammers used physical mail letters featuring company logos, holograms, and QR codes to enhance the credibility of the fraud. Similar incidents have affected companies like Ledger and Trezor, accompanied by data breaches and vulnerabilities in third-party services, leading to ongoing phishing attacks.

According to FinanceFeeds, the Central Bureau of Investigation of India has arrested suspect Sunil Nellathu Ramakrishnan (also known as Krish), who is suspected of being involved in a transnational human trafficking network related to Southeast Asian online fraud activities, and is identified as a key coordinator of the cross-border fraud network.This network lured Indian citizens to Thailand through fake recruitment and then transported them to scam hubs in Myanmar, Cambodia, and other places, forcing them to engage in activities such as cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scams. Law enforcement agencies stated that such crimes utilize cryptocurrency assets for cross-border fund transfers, increasing the difficulty of tracking, and related investigations are still ongoing.

According to Decrypt, the Central Bureau of Investigation in India has arrested Mumbai resident Sunil Nellathu Ramakrishnan, accusing him of being a key figure in a transnational trafficking network that lured multiple Indians to cryptocurrency scam parks in the Myawaddy region of Myanmar.The victims were transported from Delhi to Bangkok under the guise of legitimate work and then transferred to scam parks such as KK Park, where they were forced to engage in pig butchering scams and cryptocurrency investment fraud, and suffered illegal detention and physical abuse. The agency stated that intelligence provided by Indian victims who escaped from the parks and were repatriated last year led to the successful identification and arrest of Ramakrishnan. Interpol has classified the scam park network as a transnational criminal threat, affecting victims in over 60 countries. The United States has previously frozen over $580 million in related cryptocurrency assets, and one "pig butchering" organizer has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Home Office jointly announced sanctions against the illegal cryptocurrency market Xinbi and individuals related to Southeast Asian scam networks. According to data from blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, Xinbi processed over $19.9 billion in transactions from 2021 to 2025, involving illegal activities such as money laundering, unlicensed over-the-counter trading, and the sale of stolen personal data. The UK is the first country in the world to impose sanctions on Xinbi.The sanctions also involve the operator of the Cambodian "#8 Park" scam base, Legend Innovation Co., and its head Eang Soklim, who is believed to be holding up to 20,000 trafficked workers. Meanwhile, multiple properties in London have been frozen, with previously seized assets including an office building valued at £100 million, two luxury homes, and a helicopter. UK officials stated that this action aims to cut off the financial infrastructure of the scam networks and will promote broader international coordinated cooperation at the illegal finance summit in June this year.

CZ posted on platform X that anyone claiming to be able to help projects get listed on Binance can be considered a scammer, especially those who claim to know CZ or have a close relationship with him.He stated that in 99.999% of cases, he does not know these people, and if he does know them, he will blacklist them. He reminded users to pay attention to safety.

According to reports from the newspaper, a 39-year-old woman from Hong Kong met a man who claimed to be an employee of a new energy company through a mobile dating app, and then they moved to WhatsApp to develop an online romantic relationship. The other party lured the victim into investing in cryptocurrency on a fake trading platform under the pretext of high returns. Following the platform's customer service instructions, the victim transferred over 5.5 million Hong Kong dollars to multiple unknown individuals through various fast transfer accounts over approximately two months, after which the scammer went offline, and the victim realized they had been scammed.Last week, the Hong Kong police received a total of 15 reports of online romance scams, involving nearly 10 million Hong Kong dollars in fraud. The police remind that such scams often use investments in precious metals and cryptocurrencies as bait.

According to market news, the domain name of the Bitcoin wallet Samourai Wallet, which was once famous for its privacy features, has now been taken over by scammers after being seized by the FBI, and is being used to host phishing sites to steal Bitcoin.Domain records show that the website was registered through a privacy protection service, and the current owner's identity is unknown. Multiple users on the X platform have reported the phishing site to the domain registrar NameCheap, requesting the site be shut down, but have not yet received a response.

On-chain detective ZachXBT disclosed today that a collaborative network consisting of at least 10 accounts is generating traffic on social platform X by creating panic-inducing content related to wars and ultimately directing it to cryptocurrency scam projects.This network acquires accounts with an existing follower base, frequently posts sensational "apocalyptic" content, and amplifies dissemination by having multiple secondary accounts retweet each other, quickly gaining millions of views and significant interactions. Investigations show that these accounts also utilize AI to generate fake personas, such as fabricating an "Asian version of Mario Nawfal" to enhance credibility. After gaining traffic, the relevant accounts promote fake airdrop events or cryptocurrency project scams, including a concentrated promotion of a pump-and-dump project named ORAMAMA on February 22, 2026, which is then no longer mentioned.On-chain data indicates that this operation has brought six-figure profits to the team behind it. Meanwhile, many genuine large accounts inadvertently engage in interactions through comments and retweets, further amplifying the content dissemination effect. ZachXBT warns that this combination model of "traffic farms + AI content + cryptocurrency scams" has become highly mature and is easily replicable. If similar mechanisms are exploited by higher-level organizations, their potential impact will far exceed the realm of financial fraud and may even evolve into a tool for public opinion manipulation.ZachXBT calls for platforms to strengthen regulation, implementing bans and legal accountability for such manipulative behaviors. He also advises users to carefully verify account histories and information sources before engaging in interactions to combat the increasingly rampant phenomenon of false content and "interaction bait."

According to the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, the Hong Kong police's Cyber Crime Unit "Guardians of the Net" disclosed a virtual currency fraud case, where a 66-year-old retiree fell victim to a "virtual currency investment expert" scam three times since September 2025.After being defrauded of 1.4 million Hong Kong dollars for the first time, the victim paid another "expert" a deposit of 600,000 Hong Kong dollars to recover the losses, and was then induced to purchase virtual currency worth 4.6 million Hong Kong dollars to be transferred to a designated account. The scammers went offline after receiving the payments, and the victim's total losses reached 6.6 million Hong Kong dollars within six months, leading to a report to the police for help.The police remind the public not to easily trust "guaranteed profit" investments and so-called "loss recovery" services to prevent being victims of successive scams.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning that fake tokens impersonating the FBI have appeared on the Tron network, urging users to remain vigilant.The FBI's New York field office stated on social media that users who receive tokens claiming to be from the FBI in their wallets should exercise caution and never provide any personal identification information to related websites. According to disclosed information, these scams typically operate based on the TRC-20 token standard, where attackers send so-called "FBI tokens" to users' wallets and threaten to freeze assets under the pretext of violating anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, thereby inducing users to submit sensitive information and executing phishing attacks. The FBI also recommends that users report any suspicious activities through its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). It is currently unclear how many users have been affected.

OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger posted a warning on X platform stating that any cryptocurrency emails sent from websites claiming to be associated with OpenClaw are scams.He stated that OpenClaw is an open-source non-commercial project, reminding users to obtain information through the official website and to remain vigilant against any attempts to build commercial packaging based on it.

Cybersecurity company CUJO AI has officially launched a network-layer cryptocurrency investment fraud detection capability designed for network service providers (NSP), which can identify fraudulent activities that bypass application layer and platform layer protections. CUJO AI stated that modern cryptocurrency investment scams often rely on rotating domain names, wallet interactions, and social engineering tactics, making it difficult for a single platform to grasp the full picture; the network layer is a key location where such threats are concentrated.According to Chainalysis data, global losses from cryptocurrency-related scams and fraud are estimated to reach $17 billion by 2025, with the majority of victims being ordinary users rather than institutional traders.

According to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Deputy Michael David Coberg was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $127,000 in restitution for assisting cryptocurrency scammer Adam Iza in extortion and false arrest.Coberg served as Iza's business partner and advisor, earning a salary of at least $20,000 per month. In October 2021, Coberg participated in bringing a victim to Iza's residence, where Iza threatened the victim with a gun, and Coberg interrogated the victim in his capacity as an on-duty law enforcement officer, forcing the victim to transfer $127,000 to Iza's account. In September 2021, Coberg conspired with Iza and others to lure another victim from Miami to Los Angeles, arresting him through a fabricated traffic stop and illegal drug possession charges.Coberg pleaded guilty in September 2025 to conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy to violate civil rights. Iza has been in federal custody since September 2024, has pleaded guilty to federal charges, and is awaiting sentencing.

According to CoinDesk, law enforcement agencies from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada have jointly launched a multinational operation called "Operation Atlantic," focusing on combating "approval-phishing" scams targeting cryptocurrency users.The Ontario Securities Commission stated that these scams typically use pop-ups and prompts disguised as trustworthy applications or services to guide users into authorizing malicious wallet permissions. Once authorized, attackers can control the wallet and transfer assets. Data shows that cryptocurrency scams are expected to generate at least approximately $14 billion in on-chain illegal revenue by 2025, with the total scale potentially approaching $17 billion as more involved wallets are identified.Law enforcement agencies pointed out that current scam activities increasingly rely on social engineering, AI-generated content, and "Phishing-as-a-Service" platforms. The operation is being coordinated by multiple national law enforcement agencies, and regulators stated that the new initiative will help identify victim wallets, timely warn potential victims, and attempt to track and freeze stolen cryptocurrency assets to reduce the space for criminals to profit further.

The Digital Renminbi Operations Management Center officially announced three types of "scam" schemes: Scheme One is using "Digital Renminbi promotion" as a pretext to conduct pyramid scheme fraud. The Digital Renminbi has never engaged in activities such as "recruiting promoters," "promoter exams," "down codes," or "developing subordinates," and has never charged a 400 yuan/device installation service fee. Any recruitment of "civilian promoters" through group chats or offline and online meetings is a scam; Scheme Two is luring individuals to transfer money under the guise of "order brushing and rebates," and Scheme Three is tricking individuals into downloading counterfeit apps to steal information or funds.