Kenyan Among Six Charged in US Over Alleged Crypto Investment Fraud Run From Madagascar

A Kenyan citizen is among six suspects charged by the United States Department of Justice over an alleged cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme that targeted hundreds of Americans through fake online relationships and fraudulent non-fungible token (NFT) investments.

The charges, announced by U.S. authorities on Wednesday, October 28, target six Africa-based suspects who investigators say are connected to criminal networks operating in Southeast Asia and China. According to the U.S. State Department, the suspects include one Kenyan national and one Ugandan.

The case was announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro together with major federal law enforcement agencies and interagency partners as part of the Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force, an initiative created to counter cyber and cryptocurrency investment scams carried out by transnational criminal organizations.

"The Strike Force announced charges against six Africa-based scammers, with connections to Southeast Asia and China, who targeted Americans with fake Non-fungible Token (NFT) investment scams," the State Department said in a statement.

Court documents unsealed alongside the charges detail how the alleged scheme operated. According to affidavits filed in support of the arrests, a criminal group with ties to Malaysia and China established scam compounds in Madagascar in early 2025, reportedly relocating the operations from Cambodia following law enforcement action in that country.

"As alleged in affidavits in support of an arrest of six individuals unsealed today, a criminal group with connections to Malaysia and China opened scam compounds in Madagascar in early 2025, likely having moved those operations from Cambodia after law enforcement action in that country," the statement added.

The relocation of the operations to Madagascar points to a broader shift in which criminal groups long associated with large-scale scam centers in Southeast Asia have expanded their footprint into other regions. Authorities in Cambodia and neighboring countries have carried out successive crackdowns on compounds in recent years, where workers, many of them trafficking victims, were forced to carry out online fraud against targets overseas.

According to U.S. investigators, the alleged scheme followed a pattern commonly associated with cryptocurrency investment fraud, in which perpetrators establish fake romantic or friendly relationships with victims online over a period of weeks or months. Once trust is built, victims are introduced to what appear to be investment opportunities in cryptocurrency assets, including NFTs, and are shown fictitious returns on fabricated trading platforms to encourage larger deposits. When victims attempt to withdraw their funds, the money is gone.

The federal government has identified such scams, often referred to as romance-investment fraud, as one of the costliest forms of financial crime affecting Americans, with the FBI recording billions of dollars in reported losses from cryptocurrency investment fraud in recent years. Victims are frequently reluctant to come forward due to the personal nature of the deception, according to law enforcement agencies.

The charges against the six suspects form part of a wider enforcement push by the Justice Department, which has elevated investigations into transnational criminal organizations involved in cyber-enabled fraud. The Scam Center Strike Force was established to coordinate efforts across federal agencies, including the FBI, the Secret Service, and the Department of Homeland Security, alongside international partners.

U.S. officials say the case demonstrates the global nature of modern fraud networks, in which operators coordinate across multiple continents, using infrastructure in one region, staff recruited or coerced from another, and victims targeted in the United States and other wealthy nations.

The identities of the individual suspects and the specific charges filed against them were detailed in the unsealed court documents. The case is being prosecuted following the arrests supported by the affidavits released this week.

The State Department noted that the enforcement action was carried out in concert with interagency partners, reflecting a coordinated government approach to dismantling scam compounds and the criminal organizations behind them. Investigators allege that the Madagascar compounds were established in early 2025 and began targeting American victims shortly afterward.