DOJ Seizes 327,829.72 USDT in Romance Scam, Names Tether in Civil Forfeiture
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1599-2739

DOJ Seizes 327,829.72 USDT in Romance Scam, Names Tether in Civil Forfeiture



The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts has moved to seize 327,829.72 USDT it says are proceeds of a romance scam — part of a broader push by prosecutors to crack down on crypto-enabled fraud.

What happened
– The office filed a civil forfeiture complaint in federal court naming the Tether stablecoin as “defendant property” and seeking its forfeiture under federal anti-fraud and anti-money-laundering statutes.
– According to the complaint, a Massachusetts resident was targeted on a dating app in late 2024. An individual using an alias persuaded the victim to send money for supposed cryptocurrency investments that never existed.
– Instead of investing the funds, the scammers routed them through multiple crypto wallets and converted the money into USDT — a common technique used to obscure the origin and movement of stolen assets.
– Law enforcement seized several of the implicated wallets in August 2025 after blockchain analysis linked them to the scheme.

Why it matters
– Under U.S. civil forfeiture law, property traceable to criminal activity can be seized and potentially returned to victims if a court determines it’s proceeds of crime. The forfeiture process also permits third parties with legitimate claims to file before any final forfeiture.
– Prosecutors say this complaint is part of a larger effort to target online frauds — including romance scams and bogus investment schemes — that increasingly use cryptocurrency to move and hide illicit funds.
– The case underscores two trends in the space: growing sophistication among fraudsters using crypto plumbing, and expanding use of blockchain forensics by authorities to trace and recover stolen digital assets.

The DOJ action is another signal that law enforcement is adapting traditional legal tools to pursue crypto-linked crime and reclaim assets for victims.

Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *