EZ-Pass final reminder: you have an outstanding toll. Such texts have become all too familiar to many Americans, and it is a Chinese-backed criminal network that is largely behind them. These scammers are using crypto to steal a record $17 billion from regular people, according to Chainalysis’s recent report.
The severity of this fraud has reached the attention of the U.S. government. On Wednesday, Jacqueline Burns Koven, the head of cyber threat intelligence at Chainalysis, spoke in front of the Senate about the increase of this criminal activity, and how the U.S. can combat it. Her testimony was titled, ‘Made in China, Paid by Seniors: Stopping the Surge of International Scams.’
“Scams that leverage cryptocurrency are having a record year in terms of proceeds,” Burns Koven said, in an interview with Fortune. “The Chinese scam conglomerates are the market leaders in criminal fintech. They’ve been doing this for a long time.”
The estimated $17 billion received in crypto scams is up from about 30% from last year, according to the report. These operations have become increasingly sophisticated and include the use of AI-generated deepfakes. Crypto is an essential part of the operation because the criminals frequently use digital currencies to finance their scamming operations, such as purchasing tools like SMS phishing kits.
Nefarious actors have leaned heavily on impersonation techniques, where they pose as legitimate organizations to coerce victims into paying digitally. The most well-known example of this is the EZ-Pass phishing campaign, which targeted millions of Americans. The operation was traced back to a Chinese-speaking criminal group called “Darcula”, which also has a history of impersonating the USPS.
While 2025 also saw a record number of crypto seizures by law enforcement, Burns Koven says that government and industry responses are still fragmented and reactive. Just as criminals are using advanced technology for scams, both the public and private sector could use AI to block these messages from appearing on people’s phones. Also, with criminals using crypto to facilitate these scams and because these transactions are public on the blockchain, this makes it easier to identify criminal networks and disrupt activity.
“Scammers are taking advantage of the disjointed and reactive responses from both the public and private sector,” she said. “We need to use advanced technologies like AI enabled fraud prevention, to prevent a human being from ever being in contact with that scam in the first place.”
Fraud usually never sleeps, but these Chinese criminal networks actually do take breaks. Chainalysis and other researchers found a dip in criminal activity during the Chinese New Year and other of the country’s public holidays.
The post Mass texts and EZ-Pass phishing: $17 billion stolen in crypto scams, largely by the Chinese appeared first on Fortune.
