US Seeks $25M in Crypto From Romance and Investment Scams

The Department of Justice filed five civil forfeiture complaints on Tuesday seeking more than $25 million in cryptocurrency tied to international romance and investment scams that targeted victims in the United States and Canada. The filings were submitted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office as part of separate Cyber Fraud Task Force investigations.

The largest complaint seeks about $12.1 million in crypto proceeds from romance schemes that, the filings say, defrauded more than 200 victims. A second complaint seeks roughly $10.4 million linked to more than 270 suspected victim transactions. Three smaller complaints involve funds traced to fake investment accounts and a scheme that promised to recover assets previously stolen from victims.

The filings describe how scammers used social engineering to gain victims’ trust, directed them to fraudulent trading platforms and moved funds through multiple wallets and intermediary addresses. Officials describe layered transfers and commingling of victim funds as methods used to obscure the origin of the assets. The filings allege the people facilitating the laundering were predominantly located in Southeast Asia, with related internet protocol addresses in China, Malaysia and Cambodia.

The forfeiture actions come amid a wider international enforcement effort. Interpol’s Operation First Light 2026 spanned 97 countries and territories, resulting in 5,811 arrests and the interception of about $283 million in illicit assets, according to Interpol. The operation identified more than 142,000 victims and led to the blocking of over 31,000 bank accounts. Thai authorities uncovered a network that converted romance-scam proceeds into cryptocurrency and used cross-chain token swaps to obscure the funds’ origin; one wallet tied to a suspected launderer processed more than $122.5 million in crypto over 10 months.

U.S. authorities pursued related seizures earlier this year. In February, federal agents seized more than $61 million in USDT stablecoin from addresses alleged to have been used to launder proceeds from fraudulent investment platforms. The filings describe a common pattern: developing a romantic relationship or trust, directing victims into fake trading applications, then shifting funds across multiple wallets and services to frustrate tracing.

The civil forfeiture complaints ask a court to authorize seizure of the identified crypto assets and to disrupt networks that convert stolen funds into other tokens and accounts. The DOJ and partner agencies indicated investigations are ongoing as officials trace related addresses and work to identify additional victims.