American authorities strive to return $ 8.2 million to frozen cryptography and seized of three scam addresses to the victims of an idiot involving fraudulent messages and a false investment system.
The scam involved sending messages to random phone numbers pretending to have the wrong number. From there, the crooks would befriend the beneficiary, would gain their confidence and end up convincing them to invest in a cryptographic scam.
The FBI identified 33 people grilled by the scam; The other five must still be identified, with total losses at $ 6 million, according to a statement on February 28 from the Ohio prosecutor’s office.
The FBI identified 33 people grilled by the scam, with five others to be identified. Source: American Department of Justice
The investigators carried out an analysis of the blockchain after a victim filed a complaint with the center of complaints on crime on the Internet of the FBI in June and found that part of the stolen funds had been converted into a clip (USDT) and transferred to the three cryptocurrency addresses.
After the authorities have executed a federal crisis warrant, Tether froze the funds and transferred them to a law controlled by law, where they have been sitting since.
In a complaint of confiscation of February 27 filed before a district court of Ohio, the acting American lawyer for Ohio Carol Skutnik and the assistant American prosecutor James Morford ask the court to have all the funds in the three addresses confiscated so that they can return them to the victims.
The couple said the accounts “contained additional funds above the traceable losses of the victims”, which were used in money laundering and wire fraud, totaling $ 8.2 million.
How the scam worked
Skutnik and Morford declared in the complaint that the crooks had contacted the victims through apparently harmless, poorly directed or “bad number” messages sent via text messages, dating requests and professional meeting groups.
“The fraudster then gained the confidence and the affection of the victim by using various manipulation tactics. Once the confidence has been established with the victim, the fraudster would share the success he, or someone they knew, had invested in cryptocurrency, “said Skutnik and Morford.
“This personal testimony has reduced the uncertainties that the victims may have on virtual currencies and have finally had the effect provided to persuade the victim to make the investment.”
In relation: The appeal pirates take up laundering activities, moving 62,200 ETH additional
The fraudsters would have guided the victims through the opening of the legitimate accounts for the exchange of crypto and the transfer of funds to a false site controlled by the crooks. The site has promised lucrative returns and has encouraged new investments.
In one case, the authorities allege that an Ohio woman has been due to send more money to the crooks, saying that she had to make additional payments to release her initial funds.
After losing her savings, $ 663,000, she could not send more funds, and fraudsters would have threatened to harm her friends and family unless she no longer sends money.
The blockchain analysis company indicates that in its report on the revenues of the Crypto 2024 scam of February 13 that the generator makes the scams more evolving and affordable for bad actors, which could lead to record losses throughout 2025.
Meanwhile, ONCHAIN CYVER security company said that pork butchery scams are one of the most important threats to cryptographic investors, with losses in billions of 200,000 cases identified in 2024.
Review: Elon Musk’s plan to manage the government on the blockchain faces a climbing battle
