More than $8.2 billion worth of Tether pilfered via romance baiting scams have been sequestered by the U.S. Department of Justice with the assistance of the FBI, Security Affairs reports.
Blockchain intelligence was leveraged by the FBI to facilitate the monitoring of stolen cryptocurrency assets across various platforms and networks, resulting in the uncovering of attackers' money laundering efforts, while the Justice Department was able to grab the exfiltrated cryptocurrency by using both the wire fraud and money laundering laws, according to a report from TRM Labs. Additional information included in the forfeiture complaint from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Ohio revealed romance baiting scams to have originally been launched by Chinese criminal operations to target China before aiming at other parts of the world. "This case underscores how public-private partnerships, sophisticated tracing tools, and smart legal strategies can lead to real-world impact. It's not just about seizing crypto it's about getting justice for victims, many of whom lose their life savings," said TRM Labs.
The suspicious messages, which included a "wishlist" link and potentially other circulating communications, were also distributed through AAFES's official app.
The DoppelCart operation, identified by cybersecurity startup Nebty, operates an extensive network of fake online stores, with over 105,000 sites still active.
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