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US charges Vietnamese man whose crypto wallets took in $53 million from fraud schemes

Trung Nguyen Van faces a US money-laundering charge over crypto wallets that the DOJ says took in $53 million from fraud between 2018 and 2024. The trail was still good enough to charge him years later, and the department's own figures show the wallets forwarded nearly all of the money.

The Watch · Security desk

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Illustration accompanying US charges Vietnamese man whose crypto wallets took in $53 million from fraud schemes
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What happened

  • Van walked into the US at the San Ysidro crossing from Mexico on September 22 and was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on September 24, before he could board a flight to Taiwan.
  • One victim sent about $16 million in cryptocurrency between June and August 2024 to what they thought was an investment platform called Triangle, and the transfers trace directly to Van's wallet.
  • Court documents place the charges inside a broader wire fraud scheme involving more than $125 million, and at least $24 million that reached Van's wallet is linked to known pig-butchering schemes.
  • In February, a Chinese national was sentenced in absentia to 20 years over a separate $73 million pig-butchering scheme, months after US authorities set up the Scam Center Strike Force.

Why it matters

  • What it limits constraint About 99.8% of the inflow was forwarded, so any recovery for victims means following the funds past Van into the unhosted wallets that received them.
  • Who has to decide decision Teams handling a customer's crypto-fraud report should keep receiving addresses and transfer records, because in this case the scam websites changed with each victim and the wallets were what linked the losses.
  • What it sets up precedent Wallet operators who move US victims' money can be charged over transfers that are years old and detained once they are on US soil, as Van was.

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Confirmed5 publishers

"Each of the victims were instructed to transfer cryptocurrency to different websites, but each victim reported a similar story," the Department of Justice said [8]. According to the department, victims "were guided by an individual they met online to invest cryptocurrency in a specified 'website' with a promise of high financial returns," and "each victim was never able to withdraw funds they invested" [8]. The front sites changed from victim to victim. According to court documents, the proceeds of those schemes went to wallets tied to one man for nearly seven years [5][10].

The department gave the flow to the dollar. "From Feb. 9, 2018, through Dec. 17, 2024, Van's cryptocurrency wallets received approximately $53,275,939 in cryptocurrency assets from wire fraud schemes targeting United States citizens. The wallet transferred approximately $53,188,466 worth of the same cryptocurrency assets to other accounts off the centralized blockchain network," the DOJ said [6]. The gap between the two figures is $87,473, about 0.16% of the inflow [11]. By those figures the wallets were a pass-through. BleepingComputer reports that Van moved the Triangle victim's funds to a private, unhosted wallet after collecting them [4].

The charged victim's $16 million [1] is about 30% of the wallets' recorded inflow [12]. The at least $24 million linked to known pig-butchering schemes is at least 45% [13]. The DOJ describes the whole inflow as proceeds of wire fraud schemes targeting US citizens [6]. Those figures describe one collection point serving several schemes from 2018 to 2024 [6].

One victim's transfers from mid-2024 [3] connect to a wallet history that starts in February 2018 [6]. The court documents, as reported, do not say when victims came forward or whether any funds were frozen. The case shows that on-chain records can support a charge years after the transfers. It does not show that reporting speed changed the outcome.

The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report counts almost $21 billion in American losses to cyber-enabled crime, with investment scams accounting for 49% of scam-related incidents and $8.6 billion in losses [7]. Over nearly seven years, Van's wallets took in about 0.6% of what investment scams cost in that single year [14][10].

What to watch

  • Whether prosecutors seek forfeiture against, or publicly identify, the unhosted wallets that received the $53,188,466 Van's wallets forwarded.
  • Whether later filings name the operators behind Triangle and the other front websites the DOJ says victims were sent to.
  • Whether the charge expands beyond the single $16 million victim to cover the rest of the wallets' recorded inflow.

Clarity's read

What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence55
Why these scores

Claim ledger

Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.

  1. [1]

    Trung Nguyen Van, a 37-year-old Vietnamese national, was charged with money laundering for his role in a pig butchering scam that defrauded a victim of $16 million worth of cryptocurrency.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  2. [2]

    Van entered the United States through the San Ysidro, California / Mexico pedestrian border entry point on September 22 and was arrested before boarding a flight to Taiwan out of Los Angeles International Airport on September 24.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  3. [3]

    One victim transferred about $16 million in cryptocurrency between June and August 2024 in transfers directly traceable to Van's wallet, believing they were investing in a crypto investment platform called Triangle.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  4. [4]

    After collecting the funds, the defendant transferred them to a private, unhosted crypto wallet off the centralized blockchain network.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  5. [5]

    According to court documents, the charges stem from a broader wire fraud scheme involving more than $125 million in cryptocurrency; Van's wallet received over $53 million between February 2018 and December 2024, including at least $24 million in crypto assets linked to known pig butchering schemes.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  6. [6]

    "From Feb. 9, 2018, through Dec. 17, 2024, Van's cryptocurrency wallets received approximately $53,275,939 in cryptocurrency assets from wire fraud schemes targeting United States citizens. The wallet transferred approximately $53,188,466 worth of the same cryptocurrency assets to other accounts off the centralized blockchain network,"

    Reported Supported Source: Department of Justice, as quoted by BleepingComputerView cited source
  7. [7]

    The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report said Americans lost almost $21 billion to cyber-enabled crimes last year, with investment scams accounting for 49% of all scam-related incidents and resulting in $8.6 billion in losses.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  8. [8]

    "Each of the victims were instructed to transfer cryptocurrency to different websites, but each victim reported a similar story. In each of these schemes, victims were guided by an individual they met online to invest cryptocurrency in a specified 'website' with a promise of high financial returns. Ultimately, each victim was never able to withdraw funds they invested and eventually discovered they had been defrauded."

    Reported Supported Source: Department of Justice, as quoted by BleepingComputerView cited source
  9. [9]

    In February, a Chinese national was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia for his role in an international pig butchering scheme that defrauded victims of more than $73 million, months after U.S. federal authorities established the Scam Center Strike Force to disrupt Chinese cryptocurrency scam networks.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  10. [10]

    The wallet activity period from Feb. 9, 2018 to Dec. 17, 2024 spans about six years and ten months, nearly seven years.

    Derived Supported
  11. [11]

    The difference between what Van's wallets received and what they transferred out is $87,473, about 0.16% of the inflow.

    Derived Supported
  12. [12]

    The $16 million from the charged victim is about 30% of the wallets' recorded inflow.

    Derived Supported
  13. [13]

    The at least $24 million linked to known pig-butchering schemes is at least 45% of the wallets' recorded inflow.

    Derived Supported
  14. [14]

    Van's wallets' total inflow over nearly seven years equals about 0.6% of the $8.6 billion in investment-scam losses the FBI counted in one year.

    Derived Supported
  15. [15]

    Van's wallets forwarded about 99.8% of the value they received.

    Derived Supported

Sources

2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.

  1. bleepingcomputer.com

    1 article · September 29, 2026

    Vietnamese man charged in $16 million 'pig butchering' crypto scam
  2. scworld.com

    1 article · September 29, 2026

    Vietnamese national charged in $16 million cryptocurrency pig butchering scam

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