Table of Contents
- The scale that forced a response
- The March 2026 executive order
- Enforcement caught up too
- Congress calls it a China problem
- What it actually means if you were scammed
- Frequently asked questions
- Does the executive order mean I will get my money back?
- Is there a US equivalent of the UK's reimbursement rules?
- Why is Congress treating scams as a China issue?
- What should I do right now?
For years, US crypto-scam victims got the same answer: authorised payments are hard to refund, and the criminals sit overseas. That has not fully changed — but the policy backdrop shifted dramatically in 2025 and 2026. Washington stopped treating pig butchering and scam compounds as scattered fraud cases and started treating them as an organised, foreign, national-security threat. Here is where things actually stand, and what it means for anyone trying to get money back.
Jurisdiction matters.
This is the US picture. It is very different elsewhere — the UK mandates bank reimbursement, Australia imposes duties on banks and platforms, and Singapore pays out for phishing.
The scale that forced a response
$12.5B
lost by Americans to cyber-enabled fraud in 2024
White House
$10B+
estimated annual losses to SE Asian scam compounds
US Treasury
73%
of US adults hit by an online scam or attack
White House
The US Department of the Treasury has assessed that Americans lose more than $10 billion a year to Southeast Asia–based scam compound networks alone — industrial-scale operations, often staffed by trafficked workers, running the pig butchering scams that drain retirement accounts.
The March 2026 executive order
On 6 March 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled "Combating Cybercrime, Fraud, and Predatory Schemes Against American Citizens." It reframes cyber-enabled fraud as a priority for the full weight of the federal government. Its main directives:
- 1
Prosecute as a priority
The Attorney General is directed to prioritise prosecutions of cyber-enabled fraud and scam schemes targeting Americans.
- 2
A Victims Restoration Program
The order calls for a recommendation on returning seized and forfeited criminal funds directly to victims — a potentially meaningful route to partial recovery.
- 3
Diplomatic pressure abroad
The State Department is told to press foreign governments to act against these criminal networks, with sanctions, visa restrictions, foreign-aid limits, and expulsions for non-compliant nations.
- 4
An operational cell
A dedicated unit within the National Coordination Center is to coordinate the technical and law-enforcement response and deliver an action plan naming the responsible criminal organisations.
A companion action established a Task Force to Eliminate Fraud to coordinate the effort across agencies.
Why the Victims Restoration Program matters.
The US has no UK-style mandatory bank refund. But when authorities seize a fraud network's assets, victims have historically struggled to get a share. A formal program to route forfeited funds back to victims — if it materialises — is one of the few realistic paths to recovering part of a loss.
Enforcement caught up too
The executive order did not appear in isolation. Through late 2025 and 2026, US enforcement escalated sharply:
- Scam Center Strike Force. Launched by the Department of Justice in November 2025, this task force targets the Chinese organised-crime syndicates running Southeast Asian scam centres. An early coordinated action produced at least 276 arrests and charges against alleged managers and recruiters.
- Record sanctions. The Treasury, acting jointly with the United Kingdom, took what it called its largest-ever action against a Southeast Asian cybercriminal network — freezing assets and cutting financiers off from the US banking system.
Congress calls it a China problem
On 19 May 2026, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party held a hearing titled "Crime, Corruption, and Power: The Rise of CCP-linked Scam Networks Targeting Americans." Among the witnesses was Erin West, a former California deputy district attorney who prosecuted some of the earliest US pig-butchering cases and founded the anti-scam coalition Operation Shamrock.
Her testimony connected the dots that matter to victims: the compounds draining American savings are the same ones tied to human trafficking and child exploitation, and the money flows through a laundering pipeline that reaches from a victim's bank straight to organised crime abroad. The framing — scams as a strategic threat, not just consumer fraud — is what is driving the new federal urgency.
What it actually means if you were scammed
Policy is moving, but be clear-eyed about what it changes today:
| Question | The honest answer |
|---|---|
| Will my bank be forced to refund me? | No. The US still has no mandatory reimbursement law like the UK's. |
| Can I get money back at all? | Sometimes — via card chargebacks or fast wire recalls, and possibly future forfeited-fund programs. |
| Does reporting still matter? | More than ever. Seizures, sanctions, and any Victims Restoration Program all depend on reports and traceable evidence. |
Your practical steps have not changed: act fast, and file a report. Contact your bank, then report to the FBI's IC3 and the FTC. Preserve every transaction hash and message so investigators can trace the stolen crypto, and be extremely wary of anyone promising guaranteed recovery — that is its own recovery scam. Our step-by-step reporting guide walks through it.
Frequently asked questions
Does the executive order mean I will get my money back?
Not directly. It prioritises prosecutions, sanctions, and diplomacy, and asks for a plan to return forfeited criminal funds to victims. That last piece could help, but there is still no guaranteed refund and no mandatory bank reimbursement in the US.
Is there a US equivalent of the UK's reimbursement rules?
No. US recourse depends mainly on how you paid — card chargebacks and unauthorised-transaction protections are the main tools. See do banks refund crypto scams for the detail.
Why is Congress treating scams as a China issue?
Because the largest scam compounds operate in Southeast Asia with links to Chinese organised crime, and the same networks are tied to trafficking and money laundering. The May 2026 Select Committee hearing framed them as a national-security threat, which is accelerating the federal response.
What should I do right now?
Report to your bank, the FBI IC3, and the FTC; preserve all evidence; and avoid upfront-fee "recovery" offers. Reports are what make seizures, sanctions, and any future victim-restoration payouts possible.
Key takeaways
- A March 2026 executive order made cyber-enabled fraud a federal priority — prosecutions, sanctions, diplomacy, and a proposed Victims Restoration Program.
- The DOJ Scam Center Strike Force and record US–UK sanctions escalated enforcement against Southeast Asian scam compounds.
- A May 2026 Congressional hearing reframed scam networks as a CCP-linked national-security threat.
- None of this creates a US bank-refund right — recovery still hinges on how you paid and on law-enforcement seizures.
- Reporting to IC3 and the FTC matters more than ever: seizures and victim payouts depend on it.
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Scambulance will never ask for your private keys, passwords, or seed phrases. Anyone promising guaranteed fund recovery is likely a scammer.