The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said it seized bitcoins worth millions of dollars from foreign scammers targeting the elderly. The scammers posed as members of US law enforcement and tricked the victims into transferring money to them to be “kept”.
FBI says it seized bitcoins from scammers overseas
The U.S. District Attorney for Connecticut and the Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) New Haven Division announced on Friday that bitcoins and other digital assets were seized as part of a scheme scam targeting the elderly. They detailed:
An investigation into a fraud scheme targeting vulnerable victims resulted in the confiscation of approximately 151 bitcoins, along with other digital assets.
The case is being investigated by the FBI, the US Secret Service and the US Marshals Service. At the time of writing, the value of the allegedly seized bitcoin was around $3.5 million.
The fraud, which occurred around October 2020, involved foreign individuals claiming to be members of US law enforcement. They targeted “vulnerable victims, including first-generation U.S. citizens and the elderly,” authorities said. Through phone calls, they told the victims that their identity had been compromised. After gaining the trust of the victims, the scammers requested money transfers for “custody” with the promise of returning the funds plus interest. Advertisement details:
Once people overseas gained access to the victims’ money, they transferred the money to multiple bank accounts and converted the money into digital currency in the form of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
“Law enforcement investigators traced the victims’ money through the various accounts and identified a digital wallet containing bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies that had been purchased with the victims’ money,” the report added. ‘announcement. Authorities noted that scammers overseas are still at large.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has been granted “a Civil Asset Forfeiture Seizure Warrant for the Digital Wallet,” the announcement states, stating:
The United States Attorney’s Office used civil asset forfeiture proceedings because the digital assets were the proceeds of wire fraud.
What do you think of this case? Let us know in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. This is not a direct offer or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any product, service or company. bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
