U.S. Secret Service Confiscates Over $102M Worth of Crypto Assets 

In recent years, the crypto industry has gained significant interest from both institutional and retail investors. 

Aside from investors adding digital assets to their portfolio, an increasing number of large corporations and online merchants such as AMC and Shopify have started accepting cryptocurrencies as payment options for goods and services.

Unfortunately, this mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies has also attracted nefarious players to the industry, leading to a boom in fraud. 

 The crypto industry recorded a total of $14 billion relating to crimes in 2021, with scams, rugpulls, and hacks leading the way. 

Authorities Track the Flow of Cryptocurrencies 

As hackers and fraudsters continue to develop new methods to siphon funds from unsuspecting users, global authorities are also working round the clock to track and stop these bad actors. 

David Smith, assistant director of investigations for the U.S. Secret Service, disclosed that the agency constantly trails the flow of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the blockchain, CNBC reported Tuesday.

According to Smith, the process is similar to the former surveillance system used to protect presidents and other important personalities in the state. He added that the Secret Service also carries out financial and cyber crimes investigations. 

“When you follow a digital currency wallet, it’s no different than an email address that has some correlation identifiers. And once a person and another person make a transaction, and that gets into the blockchain, we have the ability to follow that email address or wallet address, if you will, and trace it through the blockchain,” Smith explained. 

Secret Service Confiscates Over $102M in Crypto

The report also revealed that the agency has confiscated more than $102 million worth of cryptocurrencies from more than 254 fraud cases since 2015.  

One of the cases was a notorious crypto crime which defrauded 900 American investors. Investigations carried out  by the Secret Service in collaboration with the Romanian National Police revealed that the scheme involved posting of fake advertisements on popular online auctions and e-commerce websites that deal in luxury items that did not exist. 

The criminals used the ads to lure investors into releasing their funds, which were later laundered and converted to digital assets. 

Another prominent case was a Russian cybercrime syndicate that used a crypto trading platform to launder money as well as conduct ransomware operations connected to both Russian and North Korean criminals. To stop the attacks, companies based in the US were mandated to send bitcoin to the criminal wallets. 

Smith further noted that criminals move money faster with cryptocurrencies compared to fiat, which could easily be traced. 

“The quick pace of transactions makes it attractive to both American consumers and criminals. What criminals want to do is sort of muddy the waters and make efforts to obfuscate their activities. What we want to do is to track that as quickly as we can, aggressively as we can, in a linear fashion,” he said.