U.S. authorities disrupted Xinbi Guarantee and froze $52.8 million in crypto linked scam
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Wednesday announced coordinated actions aimed at an illicit online marketplace called Xinbi Guarantee that offered scam services, including seizing Telegram channels used to run the service, confiscating two cryptocurrency wallets, and deploying the Scam Center Strike Force to Madagascar to help disrupt 13 scam compounds run by Chinese organized crime syndicates.
“Approximately $52 million of cryptocurrency involved in scam money laundering was restrained in one day, bringing the total restrained by the Scam Center Strike Force to approximately $938 million,” DoJ said.
“Scam centers in Southeast Asia steal billions of dollars from American victims each year,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent in a statement. “The Trump Administration is united in its efforts to dismantle these overseas criminal enterprises, and [the] Treasury will continue using its tools to disrupt the networks behind this egregious fraud and protect Americans.”
Xinbi Guarantee is a Telegram-oriented marketplace that rose to prominence following the closure of two other similar storefronts, HuiOne Guarantee and its successor Tudou Guarantee, last year.
“Yesterday, my office issued a signed warrant to seize the Telegram channels where these vendors conduct their business and hawk their service to scammers,” Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Created in 2022, Xinbi has processed at least $24 billion in transactions, making it the second-largest illicit online marketplace in history, according to the blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic, which helped the Secret Service to carry out the wallet seizures. It is a cornerstone of the cybercrime landscape in Southeast Asia, offering an array of services to carry out pig butchering and other scams.
Vendors use its channels to offer everything from money laundering services to stolen personal data to deepfake technology, with all payments made through the platform in Tether’s USDT stablecoin. The marketplace acts as an escrow service, guaranteeing that providers are paid for their services.
