The U.S. seizes $2.12M in USDT from a pig-butchering scam. Investigators traced the funds through multiple Ethereum wallets and worked with Tether to freeze them.
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The U.S. government has seized an Ethereum wallet holding roughly $2.12 million in USDT through a civil in rem forfeiture lawsuit. The complaint, filed in federal court, alleges the funds came from a large-scale investment scam tied to a "pig-butchering" operation.
In a civil in rem action, the property itself is the target; prosecutors do not charge an individual. The wallet held 2,117,677.97 USDT.
According to the complaint, scammers used dating apps, WhatsApp, social media, and fake job offers to reach victims. They then directed them to phony cryptocurrency investment platforms promising guaranteed returns. The fake platforms showed fictitious profits to encourage larger deposits.
One victim from Tennessee lost a significant sum after being tricked into paying extra tax or verification fees when trying to withdraw money, investigators said. Because the platforms were fraudulent and the stolen assets had already moved through intermediary crypto wallets, the withdrawals never happened.
To obscure the source of the stolen funds, the fraud network transferred them across multiple Ethereum wallets. Blockchain analysis allowed investigators to trace the assets back to the seized wallet.
Under federal law, the USDT represents proceeds of wire fraud and money laundering and is subject to forfeiture, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Tether, which issued the tokens, worked with authorities to freeze the USDT in the wallet.
The complaint also flagged a broader rise in cryptocurrency investment fraud. In 2024, the FBI received more than 41,000 complaints about losses totaling $5.8 billion.
The crypto industry saw 207 hacking incidents in the first half of 2026, more than double the 85 reported in the same period of 2025, according to TRM Labs. DeFi protocols accounted for 126 of those incidents, reflecting a rise in vulnerabilities.
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