President Donald Trump will use a White House event on Wednesday to highlight efforts against foreign criminal networks that lure Americans into fraudulent crypto investments. A White House official told Reuters it is part of a broader session on cyber crime prevention. Trump and cabinet members are expected to point to seizures of fraudulent crypto investment websites and to work on stopping online impersonation scams. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Todd Blanche are expected to attend.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 President Trump to announce crackdown on crypto scams targeting Americans.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) October 21, 2026
What the FBI count shows
Americans filed more than a million internet scam complaints with the FBI last year, a 17% increase from 2024, according to the FBI. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received 1,008,597 complaints in 2025, against 859,532 in 2024. Total reported losses were $20.877 billion, and $11.366 billion of that was described as crypto-related. Crypto investment fraud was the largest single source, at $7.2 billion.
Americans aged 60 and older filed 44,555 crypto-related complaints and lost $4.43 billion, nearly 39% of the crypto total.
What officials have done so far
Trump signed a March executive order that directed the Justice Department to prioritize identifying and prosecuting online scammers. He later directed the Department of Homeland Security to work with private companies to surveil foreign criminal hacking groups.
In August, Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum aimed at foreign cybercrime networks. It allows vetted private companies to support government-led cyber operations against transnational criminal organizations. The White House said crypto theft represents about 30% of reported cybercrime losses. That is well below the FBI's own share, so the two figures likely use different definitions.
The Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force has deployed FBI agents to Bangkok to work with the Royal Thai Police on scam compounds. Crypto Economy reports the unit has recovered more than $800 million in assets since its founding in November 2025.
The 241 sites and 112 servers cited in some coverage come from a separate local case. The Brooklyn District Attorney's Virtual Currency Unit and the FBI announced it on Oct. 14. Prosecutors say the network targeted Russian-speaking Americans with fake investment offers and recovery promises. About $300,000 has been seized, and no arrests followed a three-year investigation. The office had already seized or disrupted 400 domains tied to such fraud, but replacement sites appeared quickly, so investigators went after the servers. The White House has not said whether the case will feature on Wednesday.
The Trump family question
Trump's own family is heavily involved in soliciting investments in crypto. A Reuters investigation found that the president and his sons have added at least $2.3 billion to the family fortune from their main crypto ventures, while the investors they wooed took a $2.3 billion hit.
Reuters published that investigation on June 9. It examined World Liberty Financial, the TRUMP meme coin, American Bitcoin and AI Financial Corp, formerly ALT5 Sigma. The investor loss figure is as of April 30, 2026, and covers realized and unrealized losses. World Liberty was the most lucrative, with more than $1.6 billion for the family, including over $1.4 billion from governance-token sales.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly responded to the Reuters findings in a statement:
"All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people."
Trump also pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of Binance, in October 2025. Zhao quit his job after the company pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program.
What officials have not said
The White House official gave no figure for sites seized or money returned to victims. Nothing in the Reuters report says which cases Trump will cite. The FBI report notes that Operation Level Up, launched in early 2024, has notified over 8,000 victims of crypto investment fraud and reduced losses by over $500 million.
Tanya Petrusenko
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