US Secret Service Accumulates $400 Million in Cryptocurrency from Seized Fraud Cases Over a Decade

The US Secret Service has established one of the largest seized cryptocurrency reserves globally, confiscating nearly $400 million in digital assets.

Key Takeaways:

• The Secret Service has seized almost $400 million in cryptocurrency from online fraud over the last decade.
• Investigators utilized blockchain analysis to trace funds, aiding in the recovery of millions in stolen assets.
• Global training initiatives led by the agency have uncovered scam networks and enhanced cross-border enforcement efforts.

A significant portion of the cryptocurrency collection is currently stored in a single cold-storage wallet, positioning the Secret Service as an unexpected major player among the world’s largest cryptocurrency custodians, as reported by Bloomberg.

Agents from the agency’s Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) have dismantled numerous fraud schemes, many of which begin with simple messages enticing victims to polished cryptocurrency investment websites.

Scammers Lure Victims with False Profits, Disappear with Their Crypto: Secret Service

The websites frequently display initial profits to encourage larger investments, only to vanish without a trace.

“That’s their method,” stated Jamie Lam, an investigative analyst with the Secret Service, during a recent training session in Bermuda.

“They’ll send you a picture of an attractive person. But it’s likely some older individual in Russia.”

Employing tools such as domain records, blockchain analysis, and occasionally catching a scammer’s VPN error, Lam’s team has tracked illicit funds across international borders.

These investigations have enabled the agency to recover millions and demonstrate how cryptocurrency’s promise of anonymity can also serve as a vulnerability for criminals.

Kali Smith, who spearheads the agency’s cryptocurrency strategy, is at the forefront of training law enforcement globally to identify digital criminals.

Her team has conducted workshops in over 60 nations, concentrating on regions where inadequate oversight or lenient residency programs attract scammers.

“Sometimes after just a week-long training, they can be like, ‘Wow, we didn’t even realize this was happening here,’” Smith remarked.

One case involved a teenager from Idaho who was blackmailed with compromising images, with payments funneled through another teen coerced into serving as a money mule.

Analysts traced the funds through nearly 6,000 transactions to an account associated with a Nigerian passport. British authorities apprehended the suspect upon arrival in Guildford, England.

To recover misappropriated funds, the Secret Service has collaborated with companies like Coinbase and Tether, which have assisted in tracing and freezing assets.

In one instance, the agency reclaimed $225 million in USDT linked to romance-investment scams.

This week, the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners confiscated over $225 million in cryptocurrency from a sophisticated blockchain-based money laundering operation, marking the largest cryptocurrency seizure in Secret Service history.
https://t.co/JoF6nVvWGM pic.twitter.com/GTBCNaQwD1

— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) June 20, 2025

Crypto Hacks, Scams Result in $2.2B Losses for Investors in H1 2025: CertiK

In the first half of 2025, cryptocurrency investors suffered losses exceeding $2.2 billion due to hacks, scams, and breaches, primarily driven by wallet compromises and phishing attacks, according to CertiK’s latest security report.

Wallet breaches alone resulted in $1.7 billion in losses across just 34 incidents, while phishing scams accounted for over $410 million across 132 attacks.

Two significant incidents, including Bybit’s $1.5 billion hack in February and Cetus Protocol’s $225 million exploit in May, inflated the year’s losses, together totaling nearly $1.78 billion.

Excluding these, losses align more closely with previous years at approximately $690 million.

Ethereum remained the primary target, experiencing over $1.6 billion in losses across 175 events.

The report also highlighted the increasing sophistication of phishing schemes and ongoing risks from social engineering, urging cryptocurrency users to verify links, avoid dubious sites, and utilize hardware wallets.

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