Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has issued a stern warning to crypto criminals as the institution intensifies its activity to curb these operations.

Patel, who has made battling socially engineered crypto fraud, commonly known as “pig butchering” scams, a priority for the institution, specifically called out threat actors taking advantage of Americans with these tactics.

“Pig butchering” scams, the threat Patel refers to, involve getting close to unsuspecting users online and gaining their trust to induce them to deposit large sums of cryptocurrency in alleged investment platforms or to help romantic interests. Due to their characteristics, these crimes prey on the elderly and teenagers, who are unaware of the social tactics criminals use to this end.

Patel’s fight against pig butchering scams has already yielded results. In May, the FBI reported that it had seized $8 billion in cryptocurrency in “Operation Blackout,” an operation that targeted scam centres in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, which are also linked to human trafficking crimes.

As part of this operation, over 127,000 BTC were seized and over 300 people were arrested across Cambodia, Dubai, and Thailand, aided by Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The FBI has been running efforts to track and battle this kind of crypto crime since 2024, when it launched “Operation Level Up” and began identifying victims of crypto fraud and notifying them of their involvement in these schemes.

As of December 2025, over 8,000 victims have been notified, with estimated savings reaching over $500 million. In addition, the FBI reported that 80 victims were referred for suicide intervention, a testament to the toll these crimes might take on the lives of Americans.

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