The United States Scam Center Strike Force has entered into a partnership with the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency to combat scam centers involved in cryptocurrency scams and other cyber enabled investment fraud (CIF) schemes targeting Americans and Britons.

 

The memorandum of understanding (MOU), which was signed Thursday at the residence of Sir Christian Turner KCMG, His Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States, was attended by other key officials, including Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Stephen Parkinson, the Crown Prosecutor for England and Wales; and Graeme Biggar, Director General of the U.K.’s National Crime Agency.

 

With the signing of the memorandum, the two countries can now work together to conduct parallel investigations into common targets, share information on crime syndicates, discuss which jurisdictions should bring cases involving matters of common interest, and coordinate efforts to achieve mutually beneficial results.

 

“Together we will disable the Chinese TOC networks that are operating these scam compounds and depriving our citizens of their hard-earned funds, all while using human trafficked labor to increase their profit. Standing together, we are invincible,” said Jeanine Ferris Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

 

So far, agencies from both countries involved in the partnership have identified significant areas of overlap and will bring private industry partners on board at an event scheduled to be organized by the National Crime Agency in London in early October.

 

About the U.S. Scam Center Strike Force

 

Launched in November 2025 by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the U.S. Scam Center Strike Force is a multiagency law enforcement initiative created to combat scam centers, particularly syndicates operating in Southeast Asia.

 

Focusing heavily on cryptocurrency related and other cyber enabled fraud, the initiative has reported significant successes since its launch, including the seizure of more than $800 million worth of cryptocurrency and 503 .com domains tied to Chinese crime rings.

 

A U.K. court has sentenced three men for impersonating police officers and defrauding eight victims of more than £4 million ($5.4 million) worth of cryptocurrency.

 

According to the Metropolitan Police, the criminals called their victims, falsely claiming to be police officers and telling them that their crypto assets were at risk. They then persuaded the victims to provide their private credentials, which the trio used to transfer the funds to what the victims believed was a secure police account.

 

The Metropolitan Police also said the gang was highly organized and even created convincing police websites to deceive victims into believing they were legitimate. After receiving complaints from the victims in January 2025, officers launched an investigation into the case.

 

During the investigation, authorities identified common aliases, telephone numbers, websites, cryptocurrency wallets, and spending patterns that linked the gang together. Investigators also found that the suspects lived lavish lifestyles, despite one of them reporting an annual income of just £444.

 

Describing the investigation as highly complex and orchestrated by a group of calculated manipulators, Detective Inspector Geoff Donoghue of the Metropolitan Police's Cryptocurrency Unit said the team painstakingly traced the stolen funds while combining a range of investigative techniques to dismantle the criminal network.

 

The three men, Anthony Ikenwe, Hamza Bashir, and Kevin Nwamma, were convicted and sentenced at Southwark Crown Court.

 

Ikenwe, a resident of East Tilbury, was sentenced to six years in prison for conspiracy to commit fraud and five years for money laundering, with the sentences to run concurrently. Bashir, a resident of Wimbledon, was sentenced to three years and nine months for conspiracy to commit fraud and three years for money laundering, with the sentences to run concurrently.

 

Nwamma, a resident of Watford, was sentenced to six years for conspiracy to commit fraud and five years for money laundering, both sentences to run concurrently.

 

The sentencing comes around the same time that a court in Taiwan sentenced the founder of the Bitshine cryptocurrency exchange to 22 years in prison for using the platform to carry out a fraud scheme and launder money.