The Department of Justice’s Scam Center Strike Force levied charges against six Africa-based scammers, with connections to Southeast Asia and China.
The scammers targeted Americans with fake Nonfungible Token (NFT) investment scams. In the scheme, scammers posed as beautiful women who met victims on dating websites, eventually enlisting them to connect their cryptocurrency wallets to fraudulent websites associated with the NFT investments. Once connected, the scammers willed the victims to continue to fund their cryptocurrency wallets, and then surreptitiously pulled money from the victims’ wallets without their knowledge.
“Chinese TCOs are sending scammers into your dating network, your social network, and your messaging applications, all to steal Main Street America’s bank accounts. For the last year, the Strike Force has fought hard against the compounds in Southeast Asia facilitating these scammers, to the tune of $1 billion in cryptocurrency restrained,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said. “My Strike Force will expand and grow, and follow the scammers to Africa, India, Europe, and wherever they try to plant their operations.”
As alleged in affidavits, a criminal group with connections to Malaysia and China opened scam compounds in Madagascar in early 2025, likely having moved those operations from Cambodia after law enforcement action in that country. FBI investigators identified approximately 74 cryptocurrency wallets associated with approximately 800 victims throughout the country who reported financial losses after interacting with fraudulent investment platforms online. The funds stolen from the victims were moved to cryptocurrency accounts associated with Chinese-based actors. Additionally, the government seized the websites associated with the scheme.
Among the charges unsealed, Chui Kok Wa, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as the leader of the NFT Scheme. His phones contained employment contracts, detailing overnight work schedules in Madagascar corresponding with daytime and evening hours in the United States, and providing employees with bonus payments tied to money stolen. Wa’s phones also included “scripts” or guides for what scammers should say to victims. The scripts specifically told the workers that they were committing “an emotional scam, using the [victim’s] feelings for us to get him to invest.” Wa’s phone also had a roster that included the employees’ names, passport information, salary, hours, disciplinary actions taken against them, and a list of cryptocurrency wallet addresses for the employees.
Pirro noted that this case is emblematic of the spread of TCO actors from Asia into other regions of the world. In August 2026, the FBI deployed a team to Madagascar at the invitation of the Madagascar Ministry of Justice and the Madagascar National Police (MNP) to assist MNP in the take down of 13 scam compounds and the more 3,200 electronic devices seized therein.
The Scam Center Strike Force was officially launched by Pirro in November 2025 to address the growing threat posed by Chinese organized crime syndicates operating scam centers primarily in Southeast Asia. The Strike Force targets cryptocurrency investment fraud, cyber-enabled fraud, human trafficking, and money laundering operations that have cost American victims billions of dollars. To date, the Strike Force’s has surpassed $1 billion in cryptocurrency restraints.