The biggest complaints center on romance scams and fake investment platforms, with investigators tracing much of the laundering activity to Southeast Asia.
Federal prosecutors in Washington filed five civil forfeiture complaints seeking more than $25 million in cryptocurrency that authorities say was tied to international fraud schemes targeting residents of the United States and Canada. The July 21 announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office said the seizures stemmed from multiple Cyber Fraud Task Force investigations and involved thousands of victims worldwide. The two largest cases account for roughly 85% of the assets. One seeks about $12.1 million linked to romance scams involving more than 200 victims, with proceeds routed through hundreds of intermediary wallet addresses and commingled with other victims’ funds. Another seeks about $10.4 million tied to fraudulent investment platforms after Canadian authorities alerted the Secret Service to a network of wallets suspected of moving illicit proceeds; agents traced more than 270 suspected victim transactions. The remaining complaints target schemes involving blocked withdrawals, fake investment accounts and recovery scams, in which fraudsters claim they can retrieve previously stolen funds in exchange for upfront payments. Those cases seek about $1.2 million, nearly $2.4 million and approximately $285,000. The FBI (U.S. federal law enforcement agency) has separately warned that AI-enabled fraudsters are increasingly targeting prior scam victims through more sophisticated recovery schemes. The broader backdrop shows the scale of the threat. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Complaint Center Annual Report recorded 1,008,597 complaints and $20.88 billion in reported losses, up 26% from 2024, with investment fraud accounting for about $8.65 billion and cryptocurrency appearing in 181,565 complaints. Authorities said most suspected launderers in these cases were located in Southeast Asia, with internet protocol addresses tied to China, Malaysia and Cambodia. The seizures add to more than $800 million recovered through the Scam Center Strike Force, and the Secret Service said the five investigations remain active.