US Department of Justice Seized Over $8 Million in Crypto from Romance Scam

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently seized more than $8 million worth of crypto assets linked to a high-profile romance fraud scheme.

US authorities recover millions of dollars from scammers

The US DOJ seized $8.2 million in digital assets connected to a widespread romance scam operation.

In this scenario, con artists use a combination of social engineering and manipulation techniques, feigning friendly or romantic relationships to build trust over time.

Once they create a solid rapport with the victims, they manipulate them even further, tricking them into investing substantial funds into fraudulent crypto-investment platforms.

Messaging apps and dating platforms used to approach targets

According to the DOJ, scammers created sophisticated fake identities and approached victims through dating platforms and messaging apps.

Perpetrators then gradually lured their victims into depositing substantial amounts of money into seemingly legitimate trading accounts promising huge returns.

In one such case, a victim lost her entire retirement savings of over $650,000. After transferring everything into what she believed was a secure crypto investment platform, the funds became inaccessible.

Threat actors replicated this scenario numerous times, with dozens of other victims reporting similar losses.

FBI involvement helped identify, track, and seize assets

During the investigation, the FBI employed sophisticated blockchain-tracing techniques to track the stolen assets, which were dispersed across multiple cryptocurrency wallets.

The seized funds will now become part of restitution efforts to help victims recover at least some of their losses.

How to stay one step ahead of scammers

Unfortunately, threat actors often exploit the good nature and trust of their targets to achieve their malicious purposes. With recent technological advancements such as artificial intelligence and the multitude of communication channels, the cunning of con artists knows no bounds.

Dedicated solutions like Bitdefender’s Scamio can help you spot scams, from obvious ones to highly believable schemes that could fool even the most agile eye.

Our AI-powered scam detection service works on texts, social media messages, emails, links, images, QR codes and even situation-specific scenarios: describe a situation and Scamio will assess its perceived legitimacy for you.

Scamio is free and available on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Discord and your web browser. You can also help others stay safe by sharing Scamio with them in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Romania, Australia and the UK.