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U.S. agencies took down parts of Xinbi Guarantee, a major online scam marketplace, and froze $52.8 million in crypto tied to it.
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The Justice Department shut Telegram channels and seized two wallets that vendors used to collect payment.
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Xinbi quickly moved millions of dollars into a coin that resists wallet freezes.
The U.S. government hit a huge scam network hard this week. Officials targeted Xinbi Guarantee, an online marketplace that helped criminals run scams across the world. They froze $52.8 million in crypto linked to the platform in a single day.
This is not a small win. The total amount frozen by the Scam Center Strike Force now sits near $938 million. The Department of Justice announced the news on Wednesday, alongside several coordinated actions against the group.
Inside the Joint Crackdown
The Justice Department did not stop at freezing money. Agents shut down the Telegram channels that ran the marketplace. They also banned the linked Telegram username tied to Xinbi. On top of that, they seized two crypto wallets holding about $12 million.
In total, investigators froze $52.8 million across 52 wallets. These wallets belonged to Xinbi and the network of merchants who worked with it.
The U.S. Treasury Department joined the effort too. Its Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Chinese-language media outlets. Officials say these outlets helped spread cyber scams, fraud, and money laundering aimed at Americans.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke about the crackdown. He explained that scam centers in Southeast Asia steal billions of dollars from American victims every year. He added that the government plans to keep using every tool it has to dismantle these criminal networks and shield everyday Americans from harm.
Agents did not stop in the U.S. either. The Scam Center Strike Force traveled to Madagascar as part of its expanding mission. Teams there helped break up 13 scam compounds run by Chinese crime groups.
Investigators seized more than 3,200 devices. Nearly 400 people connected to the compounds sat for interviews. About 30 of them were Chinese leaders of the scam operations, and China has since taken them back.
Indian police have busted an international dark web drug ring and arrested 12 people, including software engineers and a PhD scholar. The group allegedly used cryptocurrency, encrypted messaging, and sophisticated shipping methods to distribute drugs across India and abroad. Investigators seized several narcotics and electronic devices.
How Xinbi Built Its Scam Empire
Xinbi Guarantee runs through Telegram. It grew fast after two similar marketplaces, HuiOne Guarantee and Tudou Guarantee, shut down last year.
Elliptic, a firm that tracks crypto crime, worked with the U.S. Secret Service to trace and freeze the wallets. The firm calls Xinbi the second-largest illegal marketplace ever recorded. It says the platform has handled $30 billion in transactions since it began around 2022.
Xinbi worked as a middleman. It connected scam vendors with the criminals running scam centers. Many of those criminals ran romance scams, sometimes called pig butchering scams, where they trick victims into fake relationships before stealing their money.
Vendors on Xinbi offered many services. Some built fake investment websites. Others laundered stolen funds. Some even recruited trafficking victims to work inside scam compounds.
The Justice Department explained how the payment system worked. Once a scammer paid for a service, Xinbi held onto the money. It only released the funds once the vendor finished the job. This system built trust between scammers and vendors, even though both sides broke the law.
Treasury officials said North Korean hackers have used Xinbi’s platform before. Other sanctioned groups used it too, including Jin Bei Group Co., Ltd. and members of the Prince Group crime network.
U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Tara McLeese spoke about the takedown. She explained that criminals overseas laundered stolen money through Xinbi, believing they sat safely beyond the reach of American law enforcement.
Xinbi’s Next Move After the Freeze
Xinbi did not sit still after the freeze hit. Most of its past payments moved through Tether’s USDT stablecoin on the TRON blockchain. That changed fast once wallets started freezing. The platform shifted about $2.8 million of its remaining USDT into a different coin called USDD. It made the swap through a decentralized exchange.
Elliptic’s founder, Dr. Tom Robinson, explained the difference between the two coins. He noted that USDT allows Tether to freeze wallets directly, but USDD lacks a central issuer with that power. Still, he pointed out that USDD is not fully safe from freezes either, since part of its backing still relies on USDT.
Dr. Robinson told The Hacker News that many Guarantee marketplaces now worry about using USDT. Some are actively discussing coins that cannot be frozen at all.
He also predicted what might come next. He suggested Xinbi could reappear under a new name, much like HuiOne came back as Tudou. However, he doubted a rebrand would last long, given how quickly Tudou collapsed after its own relaunch.
This crackdown follows other pressure on Xinbi. Five months ago, the United Kingdom became the first country to sanction the platform. British officials said Xinbi sold stolen personal data and satellite equipment used to reach scam victims.
Elliptic called the latest U.S. action a major setback for marketplaces like Xinbi. The firm explained that freezing wallets shakes the trust criminals place in these platforms. Merchants and users now know their funds could vanish at any moment, and that uncertainty threatens the entire system these marketplaces depend on to function.
