US disrupts Xinbi Guarantee Telegram scam marketplace with sanctions and $52.8M crypto freeze; FinCEN flags $12.7B in US crypto-investment-scam losses since 2023

Treasury's OFAC sanctioned the Chinese-language Xinbi Guarantee Telegram marketplace and two enabler firms (Anwen Technology/XinbiPay and SafeW Technology) while $52.8M in USDT across 52 wallets was frozen; transaction-volume estimates range from $24B to…

US authorities disrupted Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language Telegram marketplace described as a cornerstone of Southeast Asia's cyber-scam economy and, per The Record, the second-largest illicit online marketplace. Treasury's OFAC sanctioned Xinbi and two supporting firms — Anwen Technology (maker of XinbiPay, based in Cambodia per Infosecurity Magazine) and SafeW Technology (an encrypted messaging app per The Hacker News, based in Singapore per Infosecurity Magazine) — while the DOJ seized its Telegram channels and $52.8 million in USDT from 52 wallets was frozen (attributed to the Secret Service and Elliptic by Infosecurity Magazine), bringing the unit's total restrained funds to roughly $938 million (The Hacker News calls it the Scam Center Strike Force; The Record calls it the Scam Center Task Force). Transaction-volume estimates disagree: Elliptic, which worked with the Secret Service, is cited at $24 billion (The Record) and $30 billion (The Hacker News) since around 2022; Infosecurity Magazine attributes $24 billion+ to Treasury and $36 billion+ to TRM Labs, noting daily inflows nearly doubled between May and December 2025, and The Record's later FinCEN story likewise describes Xinbi as used to launder over $36 billion. DarkTower counted 4,600+ crime-as-a-service vendors. Vendors sold money laundering, stolen personal data, deepfake technology, scam websites and other services for pig-butchering scams, paid in Tether's USDT; The Hacker News adds links to North Korean hackers, Jin Bei Group and Prince Group TCO, and describes Xinbi as an escrow and one-stop shop including trafficking victims. Tether froze two vendor-payment wallets holding roughly $12 million, after which Xinbi announced migrating remaining USDT to the USDD stablecoin on TRON. Infosecurity Magazine reported the marketplace appears offline with its main Telegram channels deleted, while The Hacker News and The Record describe the channels as seized by the DOJ. The UK sanctioned Xinbi in March 2026. In a related action on 2026-09-10, FinCEN urged banks to file cyber-scam reports after analyzing more than 33,000 cyber fraud incident reports from roughly 1,300 financial institutions filed between September 2023 and December 2025, finding about $12.7 billion in losses to cryptocurrency investment scams across all 50 states — about $6.4 billion reported by traditional banks and $5.5 billion by crypto firms — with monthly reports rising nearly 11% as scam centers expand beyond Myanmar,…

• $52.8 million in USDT frozen from 52 wallets; attributed by Infosecurity Magazine to the US Secret Service and Elliptic
• Strike force's total restrained funds reach roughly $938 million (The Hacker News: Scam Center Strike Force; The Record: Scam Center Task Force)
• Transaction volume since ~2022: $24B+ per Treasury and Elliptic (per The Record/Infosecurity), $30B per Elliptic (per The Hacker News), $36B+ per TRM Labs (per Infosecurity Magazine); The Record's later story says 'over $36 billion'…
• Daily inflows into Xinbi nearly doubled between May and December 2025 (Infosecurity Magazine)
• DarkTower counted 4,600+ crime-as-a-service vendors on the marketplace
• OFAC sanctioned Xinbi Guarantee plus Anwen Technology (XinbiPay, Cambodia) and SafeW Technology (encrypted messaging app; Singapore); the UK sanctioned Xinbi in March 2026
• Tether froze two vendor-payment wallets holding roughly $12 million; Xinbi announced migration of remaining USDT to the USDD stablecoin on TRON
• Marketplace appears offline with Telegram channels deleted (Infosecurity Magazine); The Hacker News and The Record say the DOJ seized the channels