The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia filed five civil forfeiture complaints on July 21, 2026, seeking more than $25 million in cryptocurrency tied to international romance and investment scams. Secret Service Washington Field Office agents traced the funds through hundreds of wallet addresses linked to schemes that defrauded residents of the United States and Canada. The seizures add to the more than $800 million the Scam Center Strike Force has recovered since U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro launched it in November 2025.
The Five Cases, From Romance Schemes to Recovery Fraud
The two largest complaints target $12,086,914 tied to online romance schemes that defrauded more than 200 victims, with proceeds laundered through hundreds of intermediary wallet addresses, and $10,400,913 tied to fraudulent investment platforms after Canadian authorities flagged the wallet network in late 2024, Yahoo News confirmed. Investigators traced more than 270 suspected victim transactions in that case alone.
Three smaller complaints round out the filing. One seeks $2,392,231 after a National Capital Region victim wired crypto to a fake investment account in March 2026, which led investigators to a second victim on the same platform. The other two total $1,230,900, tied to a May 2026 victim cut off after requesting a withdrawal, and $285,000 from a recovery scam that charged an already-defrauded victim a fee to supposedly retrieve stolen funds.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, launderers behind all five schemes traced to IP addresses in China, Malaysia and Cambodia, the same region the Strike Force targets.
Why New Crypto Holders Are the Main Targets Here
Fake investment platforms promising steady returns, romance-based social engineering, and recovery scammers preying on people who already lost money once are the same patterns turning up again and again. Newer holders remain the primary targets, since they are less familiar with how legitimate platforms handle withdrawals and account verification.
Why the Secret Service Says These Cases Are Still Open
Investigators are still tracing transactions tied to the recovery scheme in Investigation 5, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office says all five networks remain under active pursuit, the kind of case our news coverage will keep tracking. “These investigations are far from over,” Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Tara McLeese said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen P. Seifert continues to direct the Strike Force, now grown to include the FBI.
What This Means for You
If someone you met online, including through a dating app, starts steering you toward a cryptocurrency investment with guaranteed returns, treat that as a warning sign rather than an opportunity.
If you have already lost funds to a scam, be just as cautious of anyone who contacts you afterward promising to recover the money for an upfront fee, since that is the exact scheme described in Investigation 5 above. Report suspected fraud through IC3.gov or a local Secret Service field office rather than paying anyone who claims they can reverse the loss.
