Secret Service Seizes $25M in Crypto From Five Fraud Probes

Federal investigators seized more than $25 million in cryptocurrency from five international fraud investigations, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said July 21. The U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office handled the cases through its Cyber Fraud Task Force.

Prosecutors in D.C. filed five civil forfeiture complaints covering the recovered digital assets. The largest complaint seeks about $12.1 million tied to romance scams that hit more than 200 victims. Scammers routed proceeds through hundreds of intermediary wallet addresses and mixed them with other victims' funds, the filing said.

A second complaint targets roughly $10.4 million after Canadian authorities alerted the Secret Service to a network of wallets suspected of moving illicit funds. Agents traced more than 270 suspected victim transactions linked to fraudulent investment platforms. Those two cases account for about 85% of the total assets covered by the five forfeiture complaints.

The remaining three cases involve blocked withdrawals, fraudulent investment accounts, and a recovery scam. One victim invested through what appeared to be a legitimate crypto platform, then lost contact when requesting a withdrawal. Authorities seek about $1.2 million from that operation.

Another case: two victims transferred millions of dollars to the same fraudulent platform. Agents froze funds across six wallet addresses, and the related complaint seeks nearly $2.4 million.