Trump Takes ‘Major Step’ Toward Shutting Down Crypto Scammers

How the New Cyber Program Takes Shape

Foreign cybercrime networks could face a U.S. disruption program, President Donald J. Trump announced Aug. 12 in a National Security Presidential Memorandum titled “Expanding Capabilities to Combat Transnational Cyber-Enabled Crime.” The White House fact sheet frames the policy around ransomware, phishing, financial fraud, sextortion, and impersonation schemes targeting Americans.

Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, connected the memorandum to efforts against cryptocurrency-related scams. He wrote on X on Aug. 12:

“This action, while not crypto-specific, is a major step toward shutting down the scammers who exploit crypto to prey on Americans.”

Vetted American businesses can perform cyber surveillance and cyber effects operations only after program acceptance, according to the full presidential memorandum. The National Coordination Center will manage the initiative, while Justice and Homeland Security appointees serve as co-executive directors and coordinate approvals.

Participating firms must sign contracts with either department, satisfy technical and personnel standards, and disclose related commercial agreements. Implementation guidance may also require a bond or escrow of at least $1 million, subject to forfeiture for contractual noncompliance.

Why the Loss Figures Put Crypto in Focus

Complaint losses give the initiative its clearest financial rationale, though the figures measure submissions rather than a complete census of harm. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report recorded 1,008,597 complaints and $20.877 billion in losses, a 26% increase from 2024.

The cryptocurrency descriptor covered 181,565 complaints and $11.37 billion in losses, more than half of the IC3 total. Cryptocurrency investment fraud alone generated $7.2 billion in reported losses, making it the largest source of cryptocurrency investment-fraud losses in 2025.

Those totals do not establish that every dollar vanished through an onchain transfer, since IC3 descriptors can span multiple crime or payment categories. They nonetheless place digital assets near the center of federal concern over foreign scam compounds and financially motivated cybercrime.

What Earlier Crackdowns Reveal

Prior enforcement actions demonstrate the infrastructure behind the administration’s new approach toward transnational cybercrime networks based abroad. A June coordinated action involving Huione Group and Prince Group combined sanctions, a proposed expansion of financial restrictions, a cloud-infrastructure seizure, and blockchain analysis targeting infrastructure that U.S. officials linked to overseas scam compounds.

International cooperation has already produced arrests as well as server and asset interventions against suspected cryptocurrency fraud networks abroad. An April crackdown yielded at least 276 arrests and dismantled at least nine alleged scam centers, U.S. officials reported. Authorities accused the schemes of steering victims toward fraudulent cryptocurrency platforms.

These precedents differ from the August memorandum, which opens an ongoing channel for private companies to propose and undertake federally approved missions. Earlier cases relied on conventional law enforcement, sanctions and cross-border cooperation; the new program would add contracted corporate operators.

Where Safeguards and Consumer Protection Enter

Public-private coordination supported victim identification during Operation Atlantic. That weeklong initiative mapped more than $45 million in cryptocurrency fraud, identified more than 20,000 cryptocurrency wallet addresses linked to victims across more than 30 countries, including the U.S., U.K., and Canada, and froze $12 million in stolen funds.

Basic wallet precautions also reduce exposure before any government operation begins by blocking common deception tactics at their source. Cryptocurrency fraud precautions include verifying website addresses, distrusting unsolicited contacts, and rejecting promises to double deposited funds.

Program officials now have 60 days from Aug. 12 to establish consensus procedures, including eligibility standards, target-review rules, and safeguards for U.S. persons. No mission may receive approval until those procedures comply with constitutional, statutory, and international obligations.