- FBI seized 127,000+ BTC from Chen Zhi, CEO of Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group.
- Operation Blackout is the largest crypto forfeiture in U.S. government history.
- Starlink suspended 7,000+ Myanmar satellite terminals linked to scam networks.
- FBI’s Level Up initiative prevented $562M in losses across 8,935 notified victims.
The FBI has seized more than 127,000 bitcoin, valued at roughly $8 billion at the time of confiscation, and potentially higher, in what the bureau is calling the largest cryptocurrency forfeiture in U.S. government history. The arrest of Chen Zhi, CEO of Cambodian conglomerate Prince Holding Group, anchored an intercontinental enforcement sweep that spanned Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Operation Blackout Dismantles Cross-Border Bitcoin Scam Infrastructure
The umbrella operation comprised four separate investigations targeting organized crime networks running fortified scam compounds built to defraud American victims at scale.
“Scam compounds are not just call centers,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “They are organized criminal enterprises built to steal from Americans, launder money, and exploit people.”
Operation Zephyr Exodus dismantled Prince Holding Group’s Cambodian network, while Operation Sand Dollar targeted fraud infrastructure in the UAE. In Dubai alone, FBI agents and local authorities arrested 275 people, six facing extradition to the United States, across nine compounds, each allegedly pulling in around $6 million annually in fraud proceeds.
Operation Haochen focused on the Tai Chang compound in Kyaukhat, Myanmar, controlled by the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, a Treasury-sanctioned transnational criminal organization with alleged ties to Chinese organized crime. Authorities seized $30 million connected to the compound.
A fourth operation, the Shunda Compound Takedown, produced arrests in Thailand and shut down a Telegram channel used to funnel trafficked workers into a Cambodian law enforcement impersonation scheme.
Starlink Cooperation and Victim Recovery
In Myanmar, the FBI supplied Starlink with geolocation data identifying terminals linked to active fraud. Starlink subsequently suspended more than 7,000 connections. The bureau also freed nearly 2,000 people trafficked into scam centers, many recruited through false job offers and then coerced through threats of violence.
A parallel effort, Operation Level Up, proactively identified and alerted victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud. Of the 8,935 people notified, 77 percent were unaware they were being defrauded. The initiative has prevented an estimated $562 million in losses.
The operation emerged from a surge in complaints to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, which logged nearly 72,000 cryptocurrency fraud reports in 2025 totaling more than $7.5 billion in stated losses, figures the bureau considers a significant undercount.
That trajectory aligns with broader industry data showing crypto fraud inflows now exceeding $17 billion annually, a figure analysts attribute in part to AI-generated deepfakes and automated conversational tools that make romance scams and fake investment platforms increasingly difficult for victims to identify. Chen Zhi faces federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
READ MORE: Stellar Crypto Price Gets Overbought: Time to Sell XLM After the DTCC deal?
