US Department of Justice seizes over $25 million in cryptocurrency linked to跨国 investment fraud network

Odaily Planet Daily News The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, in coordination with the U.S. Secret Service's Washington Field Office, announced that investigations into multiple international cyber fraud cases have led to the seizure of over $25 million in cryptocurrency, allegedly derived from crypto investment scams targeting residents of the United States and Canada.

This operation is part of the "Scam Center Strike Force," launched in 2025 by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro, which has now recovered assets totaling over $800 million. Prosecutors stated that on July 21, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia filed five civil forfeiture complaints in U.S. District Court, seeking to forfeit over $25 million in crypto assets recovered in various fraud investigations.

Investigators indicated that these cases involve multiple money laundering networks with victims worldwide. Criminal groups lured victims into investing through fake crypto investment platforms and romance scams, then concealed the source of funds through multi-layer wallet address transfers and mixing operations. The seized funds are linked to five major investigations:

In one case, Canadian law enforcement provided the U.S. Secret Service with wallet addresses suspected of transferring illegal proceeds. Investigators froze the relevant addresses and tracked over 270 suspected victim transactions, involving approximately $10.4 million.

The second case involved romance scams, with over 200 victims defrauded. Illegal funds were transferred through hundreds of intermediary wallet addresses and mixed with funds from other victims, involving approximately $12.08 million.

The third case involved a victim in the U.S. capital region who participated in a fake crypto investment project and lost contact with the scammers after failing to withdraw funds, involving approximately $1.23 million.

In the fourth case, a victim transferred millions of dollars in cryptocurrency to a fake investment account. Investigators traced a portion of the funds to six wallet addresses and froze approximately $2.39 million.

In the fifth case, scammers impersonated "fund recovery" agencies to trick victims into paying fees, involving approximately $285,000.

The U.S. Secret Service stated that these cases remain under active investigation, with law enforcement tracking the suspects behind the fraud networks and cooperating with international law enforcement agencies to hold them accountable.