UK Treats Crypto Fraud As National Security Threat, Seizes $6 Billion in Assets

On January 22, the UK government signaled a major escalation in its fight against crypto-enabled fraud, backing blockchain intelligence and international cooperation as core tools to disrupt global scam networks, according to the blog post from Chainalysis.

The two most important elements that it will use to disrupt the scam networks across the globe are blockchain intelligence and international collaboration. This comes after Chainalysis revealed that at least $14 billion in cryptocurrency was sent to scam addresses in 2025.

Fraud is now the most prevalent crime in the UK. It comprises over 40% of all reported crimes. In 2023, the total amount of losses stood at £219 billion, and it is estimated that three-quarters of these crimes have actors from abroad. Crypto is increasingly being involved in this crime.

According to the City of London Police, digital assets are involved in two-thirds of reported investment fraud cases. Due to these statistics, policymakers are shifting the way they enforce the law from waiting for crimes to occur to using intelligence to disrupt them.

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Global Collaboration Against Fraud

The UK is now of the view that fraud is a global problem that cannot be resolved by one country. This was reflected in the Fraud Strategy of 2023 and was reinforced in 2024 when the UK hosted the first Global Fraud Summit with the G7 governments, police, and industry leaders. Since then, there has been a shift from discussing policy to implementing it.

Examples of this strategy include: Operation Elaborate disrupted iSpoof, which facilitated over 10 million spoof calls, while the Metropolitan Police successfully recovered £5 billion in crypto. Blockchain analysis enabled the tracing of funds and linking of complaints to criminals.

Blockchain Tools Accelerate Crypto Fraud Detection

In addition to enforcement, the UK is also revamping the way fraud is reported and prevented. A new National Fraud Squad with 400 officers will address the problem of a lack of resources for years.

Action Fraud is being replaced by Report Fraud, a data-driven approach that allows for faster triage and pattern recognition. With crypto addresses in reports, blockchain technology can link numerous frauds in a matter of minutes.

Responsibility is being transferred to the private sector. The payment scheme for authorized push payment fraud has repaid £27 million to victims in three months, encouraging banks and fintechs to act early to prevent scams.

Real-time risk assessment tools have become a necessity, with the goal of preventing fraud before the money is transferred out of the victims’ hands.

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