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DOJ Targets Crypto Fraud in ‘America First’ Blitz as AI Scams Spike 450%

The U.S. Department of Justice is intensifying its efforts on crypto-related fraud as it escalates to execute what the authorities discuss with as an “America First” enforcement agenda in response to a surge of digital asset-related frauds pushed extra by synthetic intelligence.

The shift was outlined in the DOJ Criminal Division Fraud Section 2025 Year in Review, published on Thursday, indicating prosecutors accused 265 defendants with a cumulative alleged loss on fraud instances of over $16 billion, practically twice the quantity reported the earlier 12 months.

Source: DOJ Criminal Division Fraud Section

Although the instances had been in medical care, shopper safety, company fraud, and market manipulation, the DOJ stated that cryptocurrency was more and more turning into a kind of cost rail, laundering, or asset class as a consequence of illicit funds.

In some important instances, authorities seized crypto alongside money, actual property, and luxurious items, exhibiting the robust integration of digital property into typical fraudulent actions.

DOJ Health Care Fraud Crackdowns Lead to Major Crypto Seizures

One of probably the most distinguished instances cited concerned a $1 billion amniotic wound allograft fraud scheme that allegedly generated greater than $600 million in improper Medicare funds.

Prosecutors charged Tyler Kontos, Joel Kupetz, and Jorge Kinds with concentrating on aged and terminally ailing sufferers for medically pointless procedures.

As a part of the investigation, regulation enforcement seized greater than $7.2 million in property, together with financial institution accounts and cryptocurrency.

The DOJ additionally highlighted the National Health Care Fraud Takedown carried out final 12 months, the most important in the division’s historical past.

That operation charged 324 people throughout 50 federal districts for schemes involving greater than $14.6 billion in supposed losses.

Authorities confiscated greater than $245 million in property in the sweep, together with important quantities of cryptocurrency.

Simultaneously, the regulators prevented over $4 billion of fraudulent Medicare funds previous to their disbursement, indicating a extra energetic, data-driven enforcement technique.

Behind these instances is the DOJ Fraud Section, which operates via 4 specialised items that more and more intersect with crypto-related crime.

Its items embody overseas bribery, market and shopper fraud, healthcare fraud, and well being and security crimes, areas the place digital property and blockchain-based laundering at the moment are continuously concerned.

Source: DOJ Criminal Division Fraud Section

Prosecutors reported securing 235 convictions in 2025, together with 25 trials throughout 17 federal districts.

AI-Assisted Scams Drive Sharp Rise in Crypto Fraud Losses

This enforcement surge comes as reported crypto fraud losses proceed to climb. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded more than 41,500 crypto investment scam complaints in 2024, with reported losses exceeding $5.8 billion.

Federal information reveals total crypto scam losses reached roughly $9.3 billion final 12 months, with older Americans disproportionately affected.

In 2025, blockchain analytics corporations reported that common rip-off funds rose greater than 250%, whereas AI-assisted scams have surged by greater than 450%, as criminals deployed deepfake audio, artificial identities, and automatic phishing at scale.

Source: TRM Labs

In response, the DOJ and different companies have launched coordinated initiatives aimed toward transnational fraud networks, notably so-called “pig butchering” scams linked to legal teams working in Southeast Asia.

A multi-agency strike power announced late final 12 months has already seized and forfeited greater than $401 million in cryptocurrency, together with the most important bitcoin seizure in U.S. historical past.

Separately, the FBI’s Operation Level Up has notified 1000’s of potential victims and helped forestall lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in extra losses.

Lawmakers have additionally moved to tighten the authorized framework, as bipartisan bills introduced in Congress seek harsher penalties for AI-assisted fraud and stronger coordination throughout federal companies to fight crypto-related scams.

In addition, two U.S. senators introduced the SAFE Crypto Act aimed toward tightening the federal government’s response to cryptocurrency-related fraud.

The submit DOJ Targets Crypto Fraud in ‘America First’ Blitz as AI Scams Spike 450% appeared first on Cryptonews.

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