US seeks forfeiture of $25M in crypto tied to romance, investment scams
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed five civil forfeiture complaints seeking more than $25 million in crypto allegedly tied to international investment, romance and recovery scams targeting victims in Canada and the United States.
On Tuesday, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the US Secret Service’s Washington Field Office said that the assets were recovered through separate investigations by the Cyber Fraud Task Force. Investigators identified several laundering networks and confirmed thousands of victims worldwide who were misled into believing they were making legitimate digital asset investments.
The action highlights the growing scale of crypto-enabled romance and investment scams, which often combine social engineering with fraudulent trading platforms and layered wallet transfers to conceal stolen funds.
The largest complaint seeks about $12.1 million linked to romance schemes that defrauded more than 200 victims, with proceeds routed through intermediary addresses and commingled with other victim funds. Another seeks $10.4 million traced to more than 270 suspected victim transactions, while three smaller cases involved fake investment accounts and a secondary scam offering to recover previously stolen funds.
The DOJ said the launderers were predominantly located in Southeast Asia, with related IP addresses in China, Malaysia and Cambodia.
Crypto romance scams face global enforcement push
The complaints follow a recent Interpol-coordinated operation targeting social engineering scams and financial networks used to launder their proceeds. Operation First Light 2026 involved 97 countries and territories, resulted in 5,811 arrests and the interception of $283 million in illicit assets. Interpol said the operation identified more than 142,000 victims and blocked more than 31,000 bank accounts.
As part of the operation, Thai authorities uncovered a network that allegedly converted romance-scam proceeds into crypto and used cross-chain token swaps to obscure the trail. A wallet associated with one suspected money launderer processed more than $122.5 million in crypto over 10 months.
Related: DOJ moves to dismiss charges against alleged $722M BitClub fraudster: Report
US authorities have also pursued crypto assets linked to similar schemes. In February, federal agents seized over $61 million in USDT stablecoin from addresses allegedly used to launder proceeds from fraudulent investment platforms.
Investigators said scammers first gained trust through romantic relationships, then directed them to fake trading platforms before moving their money through multiple wallets.
Magazine: Inside the ‘fake police raid’ that forced a $1M Bitcoin transfer
