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According to Decrypt, Michael Gubbins, the head of the Criminal Assets Bureau in Ireland, revealed to the Sunday Independent that organized crime gangs are renting private vaults to store cryptocurrency wallet private keys and mnemonic phrases along with cash, luxury watches, passports, and other valuables. This situation has been reported to the government's Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee, which is preparing to implement new EU anti-money laundering rules in Ireland.The new EU regulations will take effect next summer, prohibiting cash transactions over 10,000 euros and requiring businesses to identify individuals for cash expenditures of 3,000 euros and above. Gubbins stated that crime gangs believe cryptocurrency offers anonymity, but the use of cryptocurrency in Ireland is still quite primitive, with cash remaining the primary form of payment for criminal activities such as drug trafficking.The bureau is handling its largest cryptocurrency seizure in history, involving 6,000 bitcoins confiscated from a cannabis grower in 2019, with the private keys written on paper and hidden in a tackle box, which was later lost. With the assistance of Europol, the bureau has cracked the first of 12 wallets in March, with over 130 million euros already liquidated from assets totaling 360 million euros.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian National Police and Security Service announced the dismantling of a fake investment platform network based in Kyiv. This gang stole cryptocurrency from users in over 20 countries through built-in wallet theft tools. Investigators have currently confirmed 62 victims, including citizens from Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Spain, France, the UK, Canada, and Israel. The organizers recruited more than 46 Ukrainians, operating multiple offices in Kyiv and surrounding areas, where developers were responsible for building the fake platform and resisting bans, while other members handled customer service and security.According to the Ukrainian Security Service, the organizer is a 25-year-old IT expert, and the gang's peak monthly revenue reached up to $1 million. The scam began with advertisements for cryptocurrency investment projects on Telegram. After users registered, they connected their wallets and invested funds, while gang members manually forged transactions to show a continuously increasing balance in the user backend. When users requested withdrawals, the platform required them to connect their main wallet and approve a small "test" transaction under the pretext of verification. This authorization immediately triggered the built-in theft tool on the website, transferring assets to wallets controlled by the gang and locking the victims' accounts.Investigators tracked down server equipment storing the gang's database in the Netherlands, which recorded victim information, wallet addresses, stolen amounts, internal communications, and platform operation data, as well as user passports, phone numbers, emails, login passwords, and photos. Police executed 34 searches in Kyiv and surrounding areas, seizing over 100 computers, more than 100 mobile phones, 79 SIM cards, one GSM gateway, cash, and 15 vehicles.

The Public Security Bureau of Hongkou District, Shanghai, China, recently solved a case involving cross-border illegal settlement and illegal foreign exchange trading using virtual currency, arresting 9 criminal suspects and involving an amount of over 200 million yuan. The suspects, including a person named Li, established a technology company at the beginning of 2024 to seek illegal profits, building two platforms online: "Cross-Border Fund Exchange" and "Virtual Credit Card Issuance and Settlement." They solicited customers both online and offline, illegally conducting exchange and settlement services for virtual currency and cross-border funds, profiting through transaction fees, service fees, card issuance fees, withdrawal fees, and other means.Investigators stated, "The uniqueness of this case lies in the fact that the criminals developed two apps and publicly solicited customers on such a large scale, which has never been seen before. The platforms built in this case are themselves a closed-loop illegal financial service system, with all transactions settled internally on the platform. This mode of crime has a higher degree of scale, a longer chain, and is more deceptive." Reports indicate that on the "Cross-Border Fund Exchange" platform, the criminal gang collected customers' virtual currency overseas and exchanged it for foreign currency, forming a "fund pool," and then realized cross-border settlement through fabricated contracts, achieving the exchange and transfer of virtual currency to RMB. On the "Virtual Credit Card Issuance and Settlement" platform, the criminal gang "cooperated" with several overseas private banks to issue virtual credit cards to customers, who could use the card for consumption, but the repayment process had to be settled in virtual currency; the gang exchanged virtual currency for foreign currency overseas, relying on false cross-border settlements to complete clearing with overseas card merchants.

According to Livecoins, the Joint Task Force Against Organized Crime in Rondônia, Brazil (FICCO/RO) executed arrest and search warrants against a gang suspected of electronic fraud and money laundering. The criminal organization is accused of using cryptocurrency exchanges to hide illegal funds transferred from the original victims' accounts.A case investigated in 2025 resulted in losses of approximately $5.74 million. The court has issued 8 preventive arrest warrants and 18 search warrants, and authorized the freezing of related assets such as cryptocurrency exchange and bank accounts. In addition to targeting securities accounts, the law also mandates the seizure of vehicles and boats belonging to the individuals under investigation.

Recently, the public security agencies of Zhanjiang and Leizhou in Guangdong, China, launched a concentrated crackdown operation, successfully dismantling a money laundering criminal gang that used virtual currency transactions to transfer funds from telecom network fraud. Sixteen members were criminally detained in accordance with the law.The gang, led by a couple named He and Zhang, began laundering and transferring fraudulently obtained funds through virtual currency trading models since the end of 2025. They illegally profited by earning transaction price differences and amassed a large number of personal bank cards, WeChat, Alipay, and other payment accounts to build a money laundering chain. In the early hours of July 24, the police conducted a precise cross-regional operation, dismantling the entire gang. The Zhanjiang Public Security Bureau solemnly reminds that "score running" money laundering is an important accomplice in telecom network fraud. Involved individuals will be charged based on the severity of their actions, suspected of aiding information network criminal activities, concealing and disguising criminal proceeds, and crimes related to the benefits of criminal proceeds.Citizens are strongly advised not to rent, lend, or sell personal bank cards and various payment accounts for the sake of small commissions. They must resolutely avoid participating in illegal activities such as virtual currency fund transfers and money laundering. Everyone should consciously protect their personal credit and property safety and actively stay away from all types of fraud-related criminal activities.

The Brazilian Federal Police are cracking down on a drug trafficking gang that has been laundering money through cryptocurrency in Operation Commodity. Since 2021, the gang has smuggled over 6.5 tons of cocaine to Europe via the Port of Rio de Janeiro, with the drugs hidden in shipments of coffee, cement, and mortar.The operation covered São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, and Espírito Santo, with police executing 13 preventive arrests and 44 search and seizure warrants. The court ordered the seizure of assets and the freezing of up to 1 billion reais, approximately 196 million dollars. Police stated that the gang is linked to Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV), and laundered money through a luxury car dealership and shell companies in the Greater São Paulo area, with the dealership selling vehicles such as Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette, and Land Rover.The individuals involved used shell companies to issue invoices lacking supporting documents, bringing drug trafficking proceeds into the Brazilian financial system and using cryptocurrency to conceal transactions. The suspects will be held accountable for charges including transnational organized crime, international drug trafficking, and money laundering.

According to Protos, a gang in the UK disguised as police officers and created a fake police website, convincing cryptocurrency holders over the phone to transfer funds into so-called "safe accounts," stealing $5.4 million worth of cryptocurrency, and were sentenced this week. 23-year-old Hamza Bashir, 25-year-old Kevin Nwamma, and 29-year-old Anthony Ikenwe were sentenced to six years and nine months, eleven years, and eleven years in prison, respectively.The stolen funds were used to purchase luxury items, including a £60,000 car, vacation trips to Thailand and Japan, and products from brands such as Harrods, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Rolex. The police also discovered £500,000 in cash in a safe and determined that most of the stolen cryptocurrency had been converted into payment cards. Gang members also falsely reported their annual income, with one declaring only £444. The Metropolitan Police began investigating the gang after receiving reports from victims in January 2025.

According to Hürriyet Daily News, Turkish prosecutors have filed charges against a massive money laundering network involving the "Grand Bazaar," with the amount in question nearing 40 billion Turkish lira (approximately 850 million USD). The indictment lists 504 suspects who are accused of using shell companies, bank accounts, currency exchange offices, POS terminals, and cryptocurrency transactions to conceal illegal proceeds. The suspects are also accused of converting the illicit funds into cryptocurrency and transferring them abroad, as well as luring victims into fraudulent investment schemes with promises of high returns. Prosecutors are seeking a maximum sentence of 34.5 years in prison for the alleged mastermind Türker Ak and a maximum of 31 years for the alleged network manager Murat Dönmezoğlu.

According to Livecoins, the Chilean Financial Market Commission (CMF) announced the cancellation of the registration qualifications of the cryptocurrency platform Plusspay, due to its investigation revealing connections with the Venezuelan criminal organization "Tren de Aragua," which was used to provide financial support to the gang.In addition to Plusspay, several other institutions, including Pixeltec and Iuinvest, that failed to submit complete information on time as required by the Financial Technology Law (Lei Fintec) have also had their qualifications to provide services in the Chilean market revoked. These institutions are prohibited from expanding their customer base and may only conduct operations related to clearing services and returning frozen funds to existing users. Regulators emphasized that payment and cryptocurrency service providers must enhance transparency to prevent money laundering and illegal fund flows.

"On-chain detective" ZachXBT published a case analysis stating that in a cryptocurrency asset case involving an Indian scam gang, the relevant individuals reported the case to law enforcement after their assets were frozen, drawing attention. The incident began when a user sought help, claiming that approximately 5.73 BTC (about $475,000) was frozen on Changelly in March 2025.Subsequent on-chain analysis revealed that these funds could be traced back to multiple social engineering attacks and theft cases related to Bitcoin ATMs targeting U.S. users, with a total amount involved exceeding $1 million and several elderly victims. The investigation showed that the individual provided multiple changing explanations for the source of the funds, including "loan," "boss transfer," and "investment from 2014-2015," and there were significant contradictions in the evidence chain.More concerning is that this user had previously filed a police report in India in December 2025, attempting to recover the frozen funds (case number 3207-P/2025). Subsequent on-chain evidence collection and email data analysis indicated that they might be a "mule" for transferring funds, with some bank documents inconsistent with their identity information. ZachXBT noted that such cases demonstrate that social engineering attacks and cross-border fund transfers continue to occur and remind users to avoid interacting with funds from suspicious sources to prevent triggering compliance freezes or legal risks.

According to Cointelegraph, a joint law enforcement operation involving 11 countries dismantled the Audi A6 cryptocurrency money laundering gang and the Dark2Web market, which handled approximately $390 million in illegal funds between 2022 and 2025. Authorities arrested two administrators from Russia and Ukraine in Georgia, seized 25 domain names, over 30 servers, 80 vehicles, and froze approximately $900,000 in cryptocurrency. Audi A6 operated on a "mixing coins as a service" model, charging a commission of 3% to 10%, and could "clean" cryptocurrency in about an hour. Chainalysis reported that since 2021, the Audi A6 wallet received approximately 10,333 BTC, valued at around $389 million at the time of the transactions. The investigation involved the United States, Australia, France, Poland, Georgia, Iceland, Canada, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, coordinated by Eurojust and Europol. Law enforcement agencies identified over 6,000 fake KYC accounts created using stolen or purchased identities to transfer illegal funds.

According to the Ministry of Public Security of China, recently, the police from China, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates conducted international law enforcement cooperation for the first time, jointly combating telecom network fraud crimes in the Dubai area. They successfully dismantled 9 fraud dens and arrested 276 criminal suspects.Investigations revealed that the related fraud gangs established "romantic" relationships with victims through social platforms, deceiving them into trusting them emotionally, and then inducing victims to invest in so-called high-return cryptocurrency projects, resulting in their fraud. A relevant official from the Ministry of Public Security of China stated that this joint crackdown is an important achievement of international law enforcement cooperation by the Chinese police. The Chinese police will deepen practical cooperation with more countries, carry out joint crackdown actions, resolutely eliminate fraud dens, and make every effort to capture suspects involved in telecom fraud, effectively safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of people in all countries.

According to Hongxing News, the police in Linyi, Shandong recently dismantled a telecom fraud gang targeting minors, seizing about 140,000 yuan in illegal gains and 20,000 in virtual currency on site. Preliminary investigations have confirmed that the gang has carried out over 200 fraud cases nationwide, involving a huge amount of money.The police disclosed that the criminal gang used "free game skins and equipment" as bait to lure minors into using their parents' phones and remotely controlling the victims' devices through screen sharing to carry out transfer fraud. The stolen money was then laundered in batches through methods such as mobile phone top-ups, electricity bills, and property fee payments. The upstream fraud platform settled funds through virtual currency, and the suspects took about 20% of the fraud amount as their share. It is reported that the gang leader had previously traveled to Myanmar to engage in fraudulent activities and has strong counter-investigation experience. The case is still under further investigation.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 22-year-old Evan Tangeman from Newport Beach was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for money laundering for a young fraud gang.Tangeman admitted that the gang laundered at least $3.5 million, which was obtained by stealing over $263 million in cryptocurrency from investors through social engineering tactics such as impersonating employees of cryptocurrency trading platforms. Tangeman's compensation included luxury sports cars like Lamborghinis and Porsches. Federal agents seized a black 2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost (worth over $300,000) and a Porsche GT3 RS from his home.The gang is referred to as the "crypto kids," consisting of teenagers who used the stolen funds to rent luxury mansions and private jets, purchase luxury goods, and spend up to $500,000 in a single night at nightclubs. Tangeman also instructed others to destroy digital devices after gang members were arrested.

According to DL News, a South Korean forgery gang is selling fake official documents to users via Telegram, prioritizing payments in cryptocurrency or digital gift cards. Among them, a counterfeit Yonsei University diploma is priced at about $200, a certificate of enrollment is quoted at about $100, and a fake diploma from overseas universities is priced at about $341.The report points out that the gang also offers forged materials such as driver's licenses, proof of relationship, certificates of no criminal record, and bank loan documents. South Korean police stated that the number of arrests for forgery cases nearly doubled from 2021 to 2023.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that a cryptocurrency company linked to "Russian gangs and intelligence agencies" is funding political opponents and influencing domestic cryptocurrency regulatory legislation.During a parliamentary vote on Friday, Tusk pointed out that some Polish politicians obstructing cryptocurrency regulatory legislation are serving the interests of a company named Zondacrypto, which is accused of providing "financial support" to political figures and has ties to Russia. Tusk further claimed that the company sponsored the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) event held in Poland last year, during which former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem publicly supported President Karol Nawrocki's campaign. Tusk bluntly stated that the company's funding sources involve not only "money related to the Russian mafia (Bratva)" but may also be connected to Russian intelligence agencies.Meanwhile, President Nawrocki won the election in June last year, with support from former U.S. President Donald Trump. The president's office responded that it does not oppose cryptocurrency regulation itself but opposes the "flawed regulatory model" proposed by the government. This controversy arises amid the political tug-of-war in Poland over the cryptocurrency regulatory bill. The bill aims to align with the EU's MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) framework, but the president previously vetoed the related bill and blocked parliament from overturning the veto in December, hindering the regulatory process.

The National Police of Ukraine and the Internal Security Department conducted a joint operation, arresting a suspect in the Transcarpathian region who is alleged to be involved in an international cybercrime gang. This gang is implicated in fraud and money laundering cases exceeding $100 million targeting the United States and Europe, and had previously been listed as an international wanted person by the FBI.The suspect was found in possession of forged identity documents and had even fabricated a death certificate to conceal their whereabouts. The gang deployed malware to steal personal and corporate data, subsequently extorting victims for ransom. Money laundering methods included purchasing real estate and using relatives' names to obscure the flow of funds. Authorities seized approximately $11 million in assets, including cash, real estate, vehicles, and about $3 million worth of cryptocurrency, and also apprehended two co-defendants. The suspect faces charges of document forgery and money laundering.

According to Solid Intel, the FBI, in conjunction with the Thai police, seized approximately 8,000 mobile phones and froze about $580 million in cryptocurrency assets in an operation targeting scams against Americans.

According to a report by the Korea Unified News Agency, the Jongno Police Station in Seoul announced the dismantling of a money laundering crime group primarily composed of family members and relatives.The group operated an unregistered virtual asset exchange in Myeongdong, Seoul, converting cash obtained from telephone scams into Tether (USDT) and then transferring it overseas, with the money laundering scale reaching hundreds of billions of Korean won.In addition, the group also took advantage of rising precious metal prices to purchase gold through virtual assets across borders and then exported it for profit. The police have arrested 19 suspects, including the main money laundering perpetrator A (46 years old) and three others who have been detained. The overall leader of the scam organization, B (44 years old), has fled overseas, and the police are in pursuit. Currently, cash, silver balls, and gold bars totaling approximately 6 billion Korean won have been seized as criminal proceeds.

According to reports from Zhong'an Online, the Hefei Xinzhan Public Security Bureau discovered that a virtual currency exchanger was providing money laundering services for a fraud gang while handling a telecom network fraud case involving 260,000 yuan. On January 15, 2026, the police arrested the suspect Liu in Sichuan.Investigation revealed that Liu had been engaged in virtual currency trading since 2020, contacting upstream buyers through overseas chat software and conducting transactions with fraudsters on illegal trading platforms. In June 2025, after selling virtual currency on an illegal platform, Liu withdrew the illicit funds that were transferred to his account to his personal WeChat account, which is suspected of concealing and disguising criminal proceeds. The case is currently under further investigation.