US law enforcement seized the BG Wealth Sharing website this week as part of a joint operation involving the Scam Center Strike Force and Operation Level Up. The scheme, which promised daily returns of 1.3% to 2.6% alongside referral bonuses and rank-based rewards, is now linked to losses likely exceeding $150 million, according to blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
How the scheme worked
BG Wealth Sharing recruited users through heavy social media promotion, targeting inexperienced retail investors with a classic Ponzi structure. The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions issued an alert on Monday stating the platform was likely operating a scam. The UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Central Bank of Samoa had previously warned about the scheme; Samoa called it an outright investment scam back in April 2025. Shortly before the collapse, a man calling himself Stephen Beard sent a video message to investors saying their accounts would be taxed 12% as part of a pending IPO for DSJ Exchange — a move that appears to have been the final signal before the rug pull.
Laundering and frozen funds
Between April 27 and May 3, 2026, illicit actors moved over $92 million in crypto across multiple chains to obscure the trail. Authorities — including Tether, Binance, OKX, and US law enforcement — helped freeze more than $41 million of those funds. The seizure of the website is part of a broader effort to disrupt crypto fraud networks in Southeast Asia, where the Scam Center Strike Force has previously taken action.
Warnings that went unheeded
The FBI reported that Americans lost $21 billion to cyber-enabled crime in a single year, with crypto investment scams making up a significant portion. Thousands of victim exchange withdrawals were identified in the investigation, and many victims remained in denial even after the collapse. The seizure this week removes the primary front-end of the scam, but the question of how much more can be recovered — and whether the operators face criminal charges — remains unanswered.
