US prosecutors seek to seize $25 million in crypto from romance and investment scams
The tl;dr
US federal prosecutors are moving to forfeit more than $25 million in cryptocurrency recovered from five separate investigations into international fraud schemes, including romance scams and fraudulent investment offerings. The action is part of a broader federal task force effort that has recovered over $800 million in illicit proceeds.
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30-day · delayedKey points
- US prosecutors have identified and are seeking forfeiture of $25 million in cryptocurrency linked to romance scams, investment fraud, and international money laundering networks.
- The funds come from five separate criminal investigations into fraud schemes that crossed international borders and involved criminal networks.
- A dedicated federal scam task force has now recovered more than $800 million in total, showing government's expanding effort to combat crypto-enabled fraud.
- Cryptocurrency's role in these schemes highlights how digital assets are being used to move and hide illicit proceeds from victims.
By the numbers
US federal prosecutors are moving to seize $25 million in cryptocurrency recovered from investigations into international fraud and money laundering networks. The digital assets allegedly come from multiple criminal schemes, including romance scams that target victims emotionally and fraudulent investment offers that promise unrealistic returns. The prosecutors are treating these cases as civil asset forfeiture actions, meaning they can move to seize the money even without criminal convictions.
This enforcement push is part of a larger coordinated effort. A dedicated federal task force focused on scams has now recovered more than $800 million in total proceeds, showing the scope of fraud happening in the cryptocurrency space. Criminals favor digital assets because they enable rapid movement of money across borders and can obscure the source of funds through mixing services and layered transactions.
The cases underscore how romance scams and fake investment schemes have become mass-market crimes, often involving international criminal networks that exploit cryptocurrency’s borderless nature. Victims of these scams rarely recover their money, making the government’s recovery and forfeiture efforts one of the few ways to prevent proceeds from being re-deployed into new schemes.
As fraud perpetrators increasingly use cryptocurrency to move stolen money across borders, these enforcement actions signal how authorities are escalating efforts to disrupt criminal networks and recover victim assets.
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Topics
- cryptocurrency
- fraud
- us prosecutors
- asset forfeiture
- law enforcement
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