U.S. Department of Justice Cracks Down on Xinbi Fraud Service Marketplace, Seizing $52 Million in Crypto Assets

BlockBeats News, September 9 - According to a U.S. Department of Justice announcement, the DOJ's Fraud Section Strike Force, in coordination with the Treasury Department, took coordinated enforcement action against Xinbi Guarantee, seizing and restricting the disposal of over $52 million in cryptocurrency assets in a single day, bringing the total assets restricted by the Strike Force to approximately $938 million. Tether provided proactive assistance in this investigation.

The DOJ alleged that Xinbi is an illegal fraud service marketplace operating primarily via Telegram, providing customized investment scam websites and money laundering services to fraud rings, while also recruiting human trafficking victims to work in scam compounds in Southeast Asia. Law enforcement has seized its Telegram channels and two crypto wallets holding a combined total of approximately $12 million, and restricted the disposal of 47 additional related wallets.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control simultaneously designated Xinbi as a significant transnational criminal organization and sanctioned two other entities providing support to it. The Strike Force also assisted Madagascar in shutting down 13 scam compounds operated by Chinese criminal gangs, processing over 3,200 electronic devices, with nearly 400 local arrests made.