Hold onto your digital wallets, folks! The US Secret Service has been quietly amassing a cold wallet containing nearly $400 million in crypto over the past decade. How, you ask? Well, let’s just say they’ve been keeping a close eye on the blockchain and using some old-fashioned patience.
That’s right, the agency’s Global Investigative Operations Center has been tracking every move on the blockchain using open-source tools and a bit of luck when it comes to scammers making mistakes. And boy, have they found a treasure trove of ill-gotten gains.
The Secret Service’s Crypto Trove: A Decade of Digital Sleuthing
According to a report from Bloomberg, the agency’s GIOC has been seizing coins from a string of fraud cases. One investigator noted that romance-investment sites often show small gains before they disappear with deposits. Sound familiar?
That pattern showed up again when victims saw their balances climb by hundreds of dollars, only to find withdrawals halted and customer support gone silent. Many of those cases ended with funds frozen in one single cold-storage wallet.
Is This the End of Crypto Scams?
The U.S. Secret Service just launched a global crackdown on rug pulls, phishing scams, and stolen crypto — seizing over $400M so far.
They’re teaming up with 60+ countries and top exchanges to clean up the space and hunt scammers.
Comment &…
— Crypto Patel (@CryptoPatel) July 6, 2025
In one example, analysts traced about $4.1 million in scam proceeds to an account tied to a Nigerian passport. A brief VPN slip revealed an IP address. That clue led British police to arrest a suspect in Guildford.
An American teenager who lost $300 twice in a sextortion case also played a key role as an unwitting money mule. Online, an investigator sent a photo of a model-looking person to hook the victim. It turned out to be an older man in Russia. Scammers will go to great lengths to mask their real identities.
Hype and confusion are fueling a rise in crypto-related crime.
Check out our latest PSA to learn the red flags and what to do if you’re a victim.
#crypto #digitalassets #secretserviceinvestigates
— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) May 21, 2025
Training Officials Around the World
The Secret Service isn’t working alone. Kali Smith, who runs the crypto team, has trained officials in over 60 countries. Some of those nations had no idea these schemes were happening on their soil until the classes began.
Law enforcement officers learned how to read domain records and follow blockchain trails. Now local agencies are shutting down scams faster than before.
Industry players have chipped in too. Coinbase and Tether helped trace transactions and freeze suspect wallets in high-profile cases.
One of the largest single recoveries involved $225 million in USDT linked to romance scams. These partnerships show that a few slip-ups by criminals can lead straight to frozen funds.
Crypto Fraud Ranks At The Top
Fraud involving digital coins now tops the list of US internet crime losses. Americans reported $9.3 billion stolen in crypto scams in 2024, which was more than half of the $16.6 billion lost to all internet crimes that year, according to FBI data.
During the first six months of 2025, victims lost $2.50 billion to hacks, scams and exploits—already topping the $2.41 billion wiped out over all of 2024, according to reports.
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2025-07-06 17:22