President Donald Trump plans to use a White House cybercrime event to spotlight his administration's push against foreign crypto scam networks. FBI figures show crypto fraud caused the largest share of reported internet crime losses in 2025. Federal prosecutors have restrained about $938 million in scam-linked crypto, but the funds have not yet reached victims.
President Donald Trump will use a White House event on Wednesday to spotlight his administration's push against foreign criminal networks that lure Americans into fake crypto investments, a White House official told Reuters.
Trump and members of his cabinet plan to point to the seizure of fraudulent crypto investment websites and the work to shut down online impersonation scams. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Todd Blanche are expected to attend.
Crypto fraud drives record losses
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged 181,565 crypto-related complaints and $11.366 billion in losses for 2025, the most loss-heavy category in its report. Crypto investment scams accounted for $7.2 billion of that total.
Americans aged 60 and older bore the heaviest burden, with $4.43 billion in crypto-related losses. The FBI traced much of the activity to organized criminal enterprises in Cambodia, Laos and Burma that use human trafficking victims as forced labor in scam compounds.
Frozen funds are not returned funds
Enforcement has produced seizures, but not repayment. The Justice Department says it has restrained roughly $938 million in digital assets linked to scam operations, according to Crypto News Flash. Restrained assets are frozen pending legal proceedings and have not yet been returned to victims.
The Scam Center Strike Force's largest action came in April, when prosecutors seized 503 fake investment websites and restrained more than $700 million in crypto. In September, the Strike Force targeted Xinbi Guarantee, a Telegram escrow market, freezing about $52.8 million across 52 wallets.
A FinCEN analysis of suspicious activity reports flagged about $12.7 billion in suspected scam-linked flows and found that launderers routinely move proceeds through stablecoin transfers to offshore exchanges.
Scrutiny of Trump's own crypto ventures
The event comes amid questions about the president's own crypto business. According to Reuters, Trump and his sons have added at least $2.3 billion to the family fortune from their main crypto ventures, while the investors they courted have absorbed a $2.3 billion hit.
Democrats in Congress have accused the Trump family of using the presidency to enrich itself, a charge the White House rejects.
Sources: Bitcoin Magazine, Crypto News Flash
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