The U.S. Department of Justice seizes more than $25 million worth of cryptocurrency, involving a cross-border investment fraud network

Odaily Planet Daily reports that the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, together with the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, announced that investigations into multiple international cyber-scam cases have resulted in the seizure of more than $25 million in cryptocurrency. The funds are believed to have originated from crypto investment scams targeting residents of the United States and Canada.

This operation is part of the U.S. “Scam Center Strike Force.” Launched in 2025 by District Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the operation has so far recovered assets totaling more than $800 million. The U.S. prosecutors said that on July 21, 2026, the District Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia filed five civil forfeiture complaints in the U.S. District Court, seeking forfeiture of more than $25 million in crypto assets recovered across different scam investigations.

Investigators said these cases involve multiple money-laundering networks, with victims worldwide. Criminal groups lure victims into investing through fake crypto investment platforms, online romance scams, and other tactics, and conceal the source of funds through transfers across multiple wallet addresses and mixing operations. The seized funds relate to five main investigations:

In one case, Canadian law enforcement provided the U.S. Secret Service with wallet addresses suspected of transferring illicit proceeds. Investigators froze the related addresses and, through tracking, found more than 270 suspected victim transactions, with an involved amount of approximately $10.4 million;

The second case involves a network romance scam. More than 200 victims were deceived, and the illegal funds were transferred through hundreds of intermediary wallet addresses. They were mixed with funds from other victims, with an involved amount of approximately $12.08 million;

The third case involves a victim in the U.S. capital region participating in a fake crypto investment project. After withdrawal failed and the scammers disappeared, the related funds were about $1.23 million;

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

In the fifth case, the scammers impersonated a “stolen-funds recovery” institution to trick victims into paying fees, with an involved amount of approximately $285k.

The U.S. Secret Service said these cases are still under investigation, with law enforcement personnel tracking the criminal suspects behind the scam networks, and will work with international law enforcement agencies to hold them accountable.