Meta and peers join DOJ strike force in Southeast Asia scam-network disruption, citing 1.4 million accounts and crypto freezes

Meta says a coalition spanning major tech platforms, a satellite internet provider, and cryptocurrency exchanges helped law enforcement disrupt criminal scam networks in Southeast Asia in an operation launched May 18. The campaign, described as the first of its kind to combine industry-wide participation with a U.S.-led strike force, ran alongside in-person coordination in Washington and targeted multiple steps of what investigators say is a transnational fraud pipeline.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Scam Center Strike Force, a unit formed to counter Southeast Asian cryptocurrency-related scams, convened meetings from May 18 to May 21 with government partners and private industry. The DOJ said the goal was to disrupt accounts and infrastructure used to defraud Americans, while information shared by investigators helped companies identify and disable scam-related resources under their terms of service.

According to Meta’s announcement, the operation resulted in digital disruptions across Meta platforms, including the disabling of more than 1.4 million Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages, and groups. Meta also said Microsoft suspended approximately 20,000 fraudulent accounts, and that Starlink terminated connectivity for thousands of terminals that were tied to unlawful activity.

On the enforcement side, Meta said the Royal Thai Police has arrested 63 people connected to scam centers “thus far,” and it characterized overall arrests as “more than 60.” Coinbase said law enforcement traced activity tied to the fraud chain using blockchain transaction data, and that it froze more than $3 million in cryptocurrency assets connected to the criminal networks.

The DOJ, in a separate release describing “Disruption Week,” said private sector participants voluntarily interrupted millions of social media, email, and internet access accounts and that the government shared information enabling participants to freeze more than $3.8 million in cryptocurrency involved in laundering stolen funds. The DOJ also said participants disrupted malicious IP traffic and connections, decommissioned servers and hosting infrastructure linked to scam networks operating across Southeast Asia, and developed referrals for potential investigations.

In industry remarks, Meta’s Chris Sonderby, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, said the results show the “power of partnerships” and pointed to account removals, asset freezes, and arrests. Microsoft’s Steven Masada, Global Head of the Digital Crimes Unit, said the effort demonstrated how cross-platform and cross-border collaboration can help disrupt scam networks at scale.

Coinbase’s Leah Bressack said the company views blockchain transparency as a key tool for financial-crime tracing, describing transaction records as leaving a trail that can support enforcement action. Starlink’s Lauren Dreyer said the service focuses on detecting and disabling terminals involved in illegal activity, and said collaboration with law enforcement and technology partners is part of its approach to anti-abuse efforts.

Broadly, the companies and the DOJ framed the operation as a coordinated response to scam tactics that adapt across multiple platforms. Meta said criminals exploit victims through romance scams, investment fraud, and forced labor in “scam compounds,” while the DOJ described “pig butchering” cryptocurrency investment fraud, where victims are cultivated over time and deceived into depositing funds into fraudulent platforms.

Still, details remain limited on what specific criminal groups were targeted, what charges (if any) have been filed, and how the arrested individuals will be processed across jurisdictions. The announced counts also appear to reflect partial, “thus far” outcomes for arrests, while the frozen-asset figures differ by reporting party, with Meta citing over $3 million and the DOJ citing over $3.8 million. The companies also did not disclose the precise number of servers or hosting locations decommissioned beyond DOJ’s general description.

What to watch next is whether this disruption model leads to additional enforcement surges and further public-private data-sharing. The DOJ’s Scam Center Strike Force describes ongoing focus on Southeast Asian scam compounds and on severing U.S.-based access used by scammers, so follow-on disclosures from prosecutors, regulators, or the participating platforms may indicate whether the operation transitions into broader prosecutions and more asset-recovery steps.