In a rare win against crypto fraud, U.S. authorities have recovered $8.2 million stolen through an elaborate ‘wrong number’ scam preying on unsuspecting investors. The case highlights the growing threat of digital asset fraud and the increasing role of law enforcement in combating these schemes.
Scammers initiated contact via fake ‘wrong number’ texts, built trust through casual conversation, and eventually lured victims into investing in a fraudulent crypto platform.
According to a February 28 statement from the Ohio District Attorney’s Office, the FBI has identified 33 victims, with five more yet to be confirmed, bringing total losses to $6 million.
Victims were instructed to open legitimate cryptocurrency exchange accounts before transferring funds to scammer-controlled wallets. The fraudulent platforms promised guaranteed returns and encouraged additional investments.
In one case, an Ohio woman lost her entire life savings of $663,000 after being pressured to continue investing under pretenses. When she could no longer send money, the scammers threatened harm to her family if she didn’t comply.
How Authorities Tracked and Seized the Stolen Funds
Following a victim’s complaint to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in June, investigators conducted a blockchain analysis, revealing that a portion of the stolen funds had been converted into Tether (USDT) and moved into three identified cryptocurrency addresses.
Once federal authorities executed a seizure warrant, Tether froze the stolen funds and transferred them to a law enforcement-controlled wallet, where they have remained.
In a February 27 forfeiture complaint filed in an Ohio District Court, acting US Attorney Carol Skutnik and assistant US Attorney James Morford requested that all funds from the three wallets totaling $8.2 million be forfeited and returned to the victims.
Interestingly, the seized wallets contained more than the victims’ traceable losses, suggesting that additional funds had been laundered through these accounts as part of broader money laundering and wire fraud activities.
Why Crypto Scams Are Getting Worse
- Generative AI is making scams more scalable.
- A February 13 report from Chainalysis warns that AI is lowering the cost of fraud and enabling scammers to launch more convincing operations.
- Pig Butchering scams are rising.
- Cyvers reports that in 2024 alone, “pig butchering” scams—where victims are manipulated into investing large sums before being “slaughtered” financially—resulted in billions of dollars in losses across 200,000 identified cases.
What’s Next?
While this $8.2 million seizure marks a victory for law enforcement, crypto scammers continue to evolve their tactics, making investor education and proactive security measures more crucial than ever. Regulators are intensifying their focus on digital asset fraud, but with AI-driven scams and deepfake technology on the rise, the battle is far from over.
While this recovery is a rare victory, evolving AI-driven scams and deepfake technology suggest that the crypto fraud battle is only intensifying.
