Summary
- More than $25 million in cryptocurrency has been confiscated by U.S. prosecutors, linked to global fraud schemes that deceived victims in the U.S. and Canada.
- This recovery was made through five civil forfeiture actions filed on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., related to investment and romance scams.
- These funds add to the over $800 million already reclaimed by the Scam Center Strike Force, which was established in late 2025.
U.S. prosecutors have successfully seized over $25 million in cryptocurrency associated with international fraud operations that victimized numerous individuals across the United States and Canada, as reported by the Justice Department on Tuesday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, in collaboration with the Secret Service's Washington Field Office, initiated five civil forfeiture complaints on Tuesday, each linked to distinct investigations into fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes and online romance scams. Investigators traced the illicit funds through hundreds of intermediary wallet addresses, where they had been mixed with contributions from various victims.
Today, @USAttyPirro and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, together with the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office, announced that multiple investigations conducted by their Cyber Fraud Task Force have resulted in the seizure of more than $25 million…
— U.S. Attorney DC (@USAO_DC) July 21, 2026
The largest forfeiture complaint involves approximately $12.1 million linked to romance scams affecting over 200 individuals, followed by around $10.4 million identified by Canadian authorities across more than 270 suspected victim transactions. The other three cases range from $285,000 to $2.4 million, including one instance where scammers impersonated recovery agents promising to retrieve funds lost in previous frauds.
