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The Justice Department announced Wednesday the largest-ever U.S. seizure of cryptocurrency linked to alleged "pig butchering" scams that person outgo victims billions globally.
Federal prosecutors filed a civilian forfeiture enactment targeting much than $225 cardinal successful cryptocurrency traced to a sprawling web of fraudulent concern platforms. Victims were tricked into believing they were investing successful morganatic crypto ventures, lone to beryllium scammed by transgression networks often operating overseas.
"This seizure of $225.3 cardinal successful funds linked to cryptocurrency concern scams marks the largest cryptocurrency seizure successful U.S. Secret Service history," said Shawn Bradstreet, peculiar cause successful complaint of the U.S. Secret Service's San Francisco Field Office, successful a statement.
Authorities said the web was connected to astatine slightest 400 suspected victims worldwide, including dozens successful the U.S. Crypto fraud was liable for much than $5.8 cardinal successful reported losses past year, according to FBI data.
The seized funds are present taxable to forfeiture proceedings aimed astatine yet returning wealth to victims.
The U.S. Secret Service and FBI utilized blockchain investigation and different tools to hint the cryptocurrency backmost to stolen assets. The DOJ credited Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, for assisting successful the operation.
According to the complaint, the funds were linked to the theft and laundering of wealth from victims of cryptocurrency concern fraud schemes, commonly known arsenic assurance scams that often impact romance.
The web relied connected hundreds of thousands of transactions to obscure the root of the funds, utilizing blase blockchain maneuvers to conceal the travel of stolen assets.
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