Trump Uses White House Cybercrime Event to Showcase Crackdown on Foreign Crypto Scams

At a cybercrime event on Wednesday, President Donald Trump is expected to make the case that his government is hitting foreign fraud rings hard. A White House official said the focus will be on criminal groups that use crypto to drain money from Americans, losses that now add up to tens of billions of dollars. The official described large scam compounds run by international cartels that rely on romance cons, phishing, ransomware and other tricks to take victims’ savings. Officials plan to explain how the US freezes stolen funds and dismantles these operations.

Results the White House Is Pointing To

According to the administration, federal agencies have stopped roughly $833 million in crypto tied to these schemes. The Homeland Security Task Force has taken down 503 fraudulent crypto websites, and authorities have warned nearly 9,000 people in the US that they were being targeted by scammers.

Treasury Task Force and Sanctions

Last November, the Treasury Department created an interagency Scam Center Strike Force to go after pig butchering schemes backed by well funded crime groups in Burma, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines. Washington has also imposed several rounds of sanctions since last year to cut off the websites and infrastructure those groups depend on.

Crypto Ties Create Political Risk at Home

The message arrives at an awkward moment. Midterm elections are only a couple of weeks away, and Trump’s own links to digital assets have become a political weak spot. Opponents have increasingly framed crypto as evidence of self dealing by the president and his administration.