November 25, 2023 – SAN FRANCISCO – The Department of Justice announced on Tuesday the seizure of Tether worth nearly $9 million, a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar. These seized funds were traced to cryptocurrency addresses allegedly associated with an organization that exploited more than 70 victims through romance scams and cryptocurrency trust scams, which are widely known as "pig butchering."
“Through this significant seizure, we disrupted the financial infrastructure of an organized network of fraudsters who stole millions from victims across the United States. These scammers prey on ordinary investors by creating websites that tell victims that their investments are making money. The truth is that these international criminal actors are simply stealing cryptocurrency and leaving victims with nothing.” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division.. “The department hopes that this asset recovery will bring some closure and a sense of justice to the more than 70 victims affected by this series of scams. This seizure should also serve as a reminder to cybercriminals that while the current landscape of the cryptocurrency ecosystem may seem like an ideal way to launder ill-gotten gains, authorities will continue to develop the expertise necessary to track the money and recover it. for the victims.”
"This seizure is the culmination of exceptional hard work and collaboration between the Department of Justice and the United States Secret Service." said United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California.. “Silicon Valley remains one of the most prominent places in the world for cryptocurrency companies. As such, we remain dedicated to using all tools at our disposal to bring justice to victims of fraud and scams. Even when the money and criminals are abroad, we will work with our partners to confiscate the illegal profits of cybercriminals.”
“This seizure exemplifies the Secret Service's mission to protect America's financial infrastructure. “We remain determined and vigilant to combat cyber financial fraud.” said Special Agent in Charge Shawn Bradstreet of the USSS San Francisco Field Office.. “It is a priority for the Secret Service to protect the financial security that citizens work so hard to obtain. “We want to thank the Department of Justice for their partnership, dedication and outstanding work on this case.”
According to court documents, the criminal actors worked together to target the victims and convince them to make cryptocurrency deposits by fraudulently representing that the victims were investing in trustworthy companies and cryptocurrency exchanges. In reality, the so-called cryptocurrency companies and exchanges were non-existent trading platforms. US Secret Service (USSS) agents and analysts were able to trace victims' deposits and observed funds being quickly laundered through dozens of cryptocurrency addresses and exchanged for several different cryptocurrencies, a laundering technique. of money often called "chain hopping". "These techniques are used to "overlay" the proceeds of criminal activity onto new cryptocurrency ecosystems, all to obfuscate the nature, source, control and ownership of that proceeds. The seized funds were linked to numerous victim reports made through the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Consumer Sentinel Network.
The USSS San Francisco field office investigated this case.
Trial Attorney Georgiana MacDonald of the Criminal Division's Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section, the National Cryptocurrency Law Enforcement Team, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chris Kaltsas and Galen Phillips for the Northern District of California are prosecuting the case. , as well as seizure and confiscation actions.
The department would like to thank Tether for its assistance in effecting the transfer of these assets.
If you are a victim of a cryptocurrency scam or another scam involving the use of the Internet, please file a report with the IC3 at ic3.gov and with the FTC in www.reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Source: Department of Justice statement
