US Files $26.4M in Crypto Forfeiture Cases, DOJ Says $800M Recovered

Across all five cases, DOJ said launderers were predominantly located in Southeast Asia, with associated IP addresses in China, Malaysia, and Cambodia.

The fifth and smallest case shows the danger of repeat victimization. A person who had already lost money to an unrelated fraud was then contacted by scammers claiming they had recovered the stolen funds. The victim paid a fee and sent a series of transactions before investigators traced some of those transactions. The complaint seeks about $285,000, and efforts to recover additional funds are continuing.

DOJ described the five seizures as part of more than $800 million recovered through the Scam Center Strike Force. A strike force program page, updated June 18, reported a different measure: $832.8 million in cryptocurrency restrained. The figures use different terms and dates, so they are not a before-and-after comparison or a victim payout tally. They show that the assets DOJ reports as recovered or restrained have reached the hundreds of millions of dollars, while leaving their final disposition unresolved.

Recovering the money does not automatically put it back in victims' hands. Qualifying victims may later receive forfeited assets through DOJ's remission or restoration process, which can also send funds to courts for restitution. The July 21 announcement gave no distribution amount, eligible claimant list, or timetable for these five cases.