Federal Officials Obtain More than $3 Million in BTC from Fraudsters

Federal officials have recovered close to $3 million in stolen crypto funds. The money was taken through a fraud scheme that resulted in more than 150 bitcoin units traveling into criminal hands.

Federal Officials Have Gotten Stolen BTC Back

The scheme is alleged to have begun three years ago in 2020. Individuals overseeing the scam had set up a call center that they inherently used to target U.S. traders and investors. These individuals would call them up and pretend to serve as members of U.S. law enforcement agencies.

They would say to the people that they were calling that their identities had been compromised, and upon gaining their trust, would request that the victims send over small bits of money – usually in bitcoin – to a controlled wallet address to ensure they could be verified.

This is always a red flag. No federal or law enforcement agency will ever just call someone like this. In addition, they will also never ask you to forward funds. Sadly, the victims did not see what was going on, and in being unable to read between the lines, they wound up losing hefty amounts of their portfolios.

Vanessa Avery – the U.S. attorney for the district of Connecticut – claimed in a recent interview:

This office and our law enforcement partners are prepared to use all tools available to investigate, disrupt, and prosecute fraud schemes, especially scams that target vulnerable populations. We will continue to be at the forefront of investigating and seizing digital assets such as cryptocurrency when those assets are linked to criminal behavior.  Individuals committing crimes will not be able to hide the proceeds of those crimes digitally or elsewhere.

Jean Njock – acting special agent in charge of the New Haven, CT division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – also threw his two cents into the mix, commenting:

No matter which cyber tools and methods criminal actors create to defraud members of the public, we at the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and the Secret Service dedicate all resources to identifying those responsible and bringing them to justice no matter where they are in the world. We encourage everyone to conduct due diligence to verify the authenticity of who they are dealing with when conducting business online to avoid being a victim of scams.

The Assets Are Being Returned

The story has a happy ending in that many of the alleged victims are now getting their money back after officials were able to trace the funds through various accounts to a single digital wallet that all the money had been moved to. The U.S. attorney’s office was then able to garner a civil asset forfeiture seizure warrant for the wallet.

The case is still open and is being investigated by several law enforcement agencies throughout the nation.

Tags: bitcoin, federal, fraud