The numbers the president laid out at the White House on Wednesday describe a campaign against the foreign scam networks that empty American bank accounts: billions in losses stopped before the money left, and nearly a billion dollars frozen where it sat.
🚨 President Donald Trump says his administration has taken major steps to combat online fraud and foreign cybercrime, claiming it has prevented at least $1.6 billion in losses this year, frozen nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrency linked to foreign scammers, shut down more than 500 fraudulent websites, and disrupted millions of online accounts associated with foreign criminals.
Trump announced the results at a White House roundtable on cybercrime on Wednesday, flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FBI Director Kash Patel, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Todd Blanche — homeland security, federal law enforcement, the military and the Justice Department at one table, for a crime that usually reaches its victims through a phone screen.
"Countless American victims have had their life savings, bank accounts, college funds and more emptied by these thieves," the president said. "We have marshalled the full force of the federal government to combat this scourge." Trump said Americans lost more than $20 billion to cybercrime in 2025 through impersonation schemes, ransomware attacks and scam centers — the FBI's figures put losses tied to digital assets alone above $11 billion — and said federal law enforcement has warned more than 10,000 Americans who were being targeted by scammers this year.
The machinery behind the numbers has been building since March, when Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to prioritize prosecutions of online scammers and build a coordinated strategy against them, followed by an August memorandum authorizing work with private companies to disrupt foreign networks. The Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force reported $938,460,156.82 in cryptocurrency under restraint as of October 15 — the tally behind the president's "nearly $1 billion" — and federal actions have seized 503 fake investment websites. Through Operation Level Up, investigators had warned 8,935 potential victims, an estimated $562.7 million in losses prevented. Blanche used the roundtable to announce a new cyber-enabled scam initiative assigning dozens of prosecutors across all 94 U.S. attorneys' offices to pursue the networks and assist victims.
"We will work tirelessly to recover what has been stolen and dismantle the criminal networks that prey on our people." — President Donald Trump
The administration's message is that targeting scam networks, freezing suspicious funds, and shutting down fraudulent websites can help protect Americans from financial losses and organized cybercrime. However, the figures and the effectiveness of these operations need to be assessed against independently verified data. While supporters may view the reported actions as a significant achievement in fighting online fraud, critics may question how the savings were calculated, how much money has actually been recovered, and whether the measures will produce lasting results.