US seizes record $225 million from crypto investment scammers

US law enforcement has seized over $225 million in cryptocurrency allegedly stolen from dozens of American victims as part of a sophisticated investment scam, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

US law enforcement has seized over $225 million in cryptocurrency allegedly stolen from dozens of American victims as part of a sophisticated investment scam, the Justice Department said Wednesday. It’s the largest-ever seizure of funds stolen in so-called “crypto confidence” scams, which dupe people into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes, the department said. The scam affected more than 400 people worldwide, including dozens of Americans, and caused millions of dollars in losses, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday. The scammers conducted “hundreds of thousands” of transactions in an effort to launder the stolen cryptocurrency, according to the Justice Department. The US government now has possession of the stolen crypto and will be working to return as much of it as possible to victims, Shawn Bradstreet, a special agent in charge at the Secret Service, said at a news conference on Wednesday. Losses from crypto investment scams have surged in recent years. Victims reported nearly $4 billion in crypto-related investment losses in 2023 compared to $2.57 billion in 2022, according to the FBI. That number increased to $5.8 billion in 2024. The FBI and Secret Service are trying to do more to sound the alarm that the crypto-investment scams could ruin Americans’ lives and those of their loved ones. CNN reported last year on one American man in his 80s who took his own life after losing all his savings to scammers.