Richmond, Virginia – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced the recovery and forfeiture of over $1.6 million in cryptocurrency assets obtained through an elaborate investment scam. These funds, totaling 420,740.422314 USDT (Tether) and 1,249,996.15 BUSD (Binance USD), were seized and cleared of title through a civil asset forfeiture process. Officials are now in the process of returning the recovered property to the victims.
According to federal court documents, the perpetrators contacted their victims under false pretenses—one through a text message and the other through social media. Though the initial outreach appeared to be accidental, both victims engaged in conversation, which gradually led to a deeper connection. The scammers then persuaded the victims to move the conversations to encrypted messaging apps, a tactic that made tracking and transparency more difficult.
Once the perpetrators gained the victims’ trust, they convinced them to invest in cryptocurrency through a website that looked legitimate but was in fact a spoofed version of an actual investment platform. Unbeknownst to the victims, the funds they believed were being invested were actually being redirected into the scammers’ own accounts…