The takedown came fast. Three countries moved at once. By the time it was over, at least 276 people were in custody and nine scam compounds had been dismantled.
The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the operation on April 29, 2026. It was joint work. The FBI, Dubai Police Department, and China’s Ministry of Public Security ran parallel investigations before closing in together. All three targeted cryptocurrency investment fraud operations that specifically preyed on Americans.
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Six Named, Two Still Running
Federal charges were unsealed in San Diego on April 29. Five defendants face wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering counts. They allegedly ran or worked inside three scam outfits: Ko Thet Company, Sanduo Group, and Giant Company.
Thet Min Nyi, 27, a Burmese national, allegedly managed the Ko Thet Company compound. Dubai Police picked him up. Andreas Chandra, 29, and Lisa Mariam, 29, both Indonesian nationals, face charges tied to Giant Company. Wiliang Awang, 23, also Indonesian, was caught by Thailand’s Royal Thai Police.
Two co-conspirators remain fugitives.
The frauds worked through what investigators call pig-butchering. Scammers built fake relationships first. Friendship. Sometimes romance. Weeks or months of messaging. Then came the pitch: invest in crypto. The platforms looked real. The returns looked real. They weren’t.
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Victims handed over their money. Some borrowed from family. Some took out loans. The Justice Department said scammers even coached victims to do this, pushing them to move more funds into fake accounts. Once transferred, the crypto was gone. Laundered through multiple wallets. Untraceable by the time victims realized what happened.
$562 Million Saved Before It Was Stolen
FBI San Diego opened this investigation in 2025 after flagging companies operating suspected scam compounds. Agents interviewed victims and pulled financial and crypto records across multiple states. The full dollar figure of losses is still being counted.
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California put it plainly. “These scammers thought they were safe half a world away,” he said. “But their world has changed.”
Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI’s Criminal Division noted in the official statement that the bureau could not do this work without international coordination.
Meta Platforms provided data during the investigation. The Justice Department acknowledged Facebook and Instagram’s parent company for the assist.
This wasn’t FBI San Diego’s first run at this type of fraud. Operation Level Up, a joint San Diego and Phoenix initiative that started in 2024, focused on finding victims before losses got worse. As of April 2026, that operation had notified nearly 9,000 victims. Estimated savings: $562 million.
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A separate FBI San Diego investigation, the Tai Chang Scam Enterprise, targets a cluster of scam compounds operating out of Burma’s Karen State. That case is still active.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva stated that scam center organizers would face justice in American courts and courts around the world, adding that fraud today has no borders and neither does enforcement.
Victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud can file complaints at ic3.gov.
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