The United States and Britain have launched their first joint law enforcement framework targeting overseas scam centres that run cryptocurrency investment fraud.

Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 4 that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the Crown Prosecution Service for England and Wales (CPS) and Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly crack down on cryptocurrency and cyber-enabled investment fraud groups.

Under the agreement, the two countries will run parallel investigations into shared targets and share information related to organised crime networks. They will also consult on which country will prosecute individual cases. Investigators have already identified major overlapping cases and plan an operation in London in early October with private companies to disrupt scam networks.

The U.S. Justice Department described the agreement as "the first international cooperation framework to dismantle scam centres." It expands international cooperation for a task force targeting scam centres launched in November last year by Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro (자닌 페리스 피로).

The task force is focusing on a Chinese-linked organised crime network operating mainly in Southeast Asia. The groups are using fake cryptocurrency investment platforms to steal victims' money, and U.S. authorities report they are also involved in human trafficking and money laundering.

Losses in the United States are also rising sharply. Cyber-enabled investment fraud losses reported to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) rose 89 percent to 8.65 billion dollars last year from 4.57 billion dollars in 2023.

International cooperation crackdowns are also expanding. In an operation in April involving Dubai Police, the FBI and China's Ministry of Public Security, at least 276 people were arrested and more than 9 cryptocurrency investment scam centres were shut down. The United States charged 6 people linked to the groups with fraud and money laundering.