The fraud started with a message, then with a friendly exchange. A stranger pointed out the victim on a cryptocurrency investment page that appeared professionally – Slick design, charts and even customer support. The first deposit showed a modest profit. The next too. Encouraged, the victim sent more and even borrowed money to keep up. Then, without warning, the platform reacted. The account balance disappeared.
“This is how they do it,” said Jamie Lam, an investigative analyst at the US Secret Service, the law enforcement officer in Bermuda last month. “They send you a photo of a really good -looking man or girl. But it’s probably an old man in Russia.”
The investigators of the secret service pursued the fraud on the domain name behind the fake investment side. With the help of open source tools, they found out when it was registered, by whom and how it was paid. A cryptocurrency payment directed her on another wallet. A short VPN error revealed an IP address.
Lam is part of the agency’s global investigative center or GIOC, a team that specializes in digital financial crimes. Your tools are software, preloads and spreadsheets, no badges or weapons.
“It’s not always that difficult,” said Lam. “Sometimes you only need patience.”
Patience and digital tools have contributed to the GIOOC to use almost 400 million US dollars in digital assets in the past ten years, a number that was not previously reported. According to people who were familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified in order to discuss private discussions.
Much of this merger is located in a single wallet in the fridge, which is now one of the most valuable everywhere. After the procedure against digital currencies such as Liberty Reserve and e-gold in the 1990s, the agency, which is best known for the protection of the US president, has become one of the world’s largest crypto depot banks.
At the center of the operation is Kali Smith, a lawyer who heads the cryptocurrency strategy of the secret service.
Your team carried out workshops in more than 60 countries to train local law enforcement authorities and prosecutors when exposing digital crimes. The agency is aimed at jurisdiction in which criminal weak supervision or residence sales programs take advantage of and offer the training free of charge.
“Sometimes you can say after just one week of training:” Wow, we didn’t even notice that this is happening in our country, “she said.
Last month, the team flew to Bermuda, a British territory in overseas, which has marketed itself at digital companies with one of the world’s most comprehensive crypto frameworks-and exposed itself to new threats.
“Technologies and financial services are fantastic for economic growth, but can also be used,” said Bermuda governor, Andrew Murdoch, in an interview. “In addition to the advantages, you need strong powers to deal with abuse according to the law.”
In a conference room on a hill with a view of Hamilton Harbor, Smith told her class that fraud usually sees victims. “You think you can use Bitcoin and be safe. But that’s not the case,” she said.
A case in real life included an Idaho teenager who thought that he would flirt online and sent a nude photo to a stranger. The stranger then asked for $ 300 or the picture would be sent to his relatives. He paid twice before going to the police.
GIOOC analysts reconstructed the extortion with screenshots, income and blockchain data. The payments were directed by another American teenager who was forced as a money muler, then transferred to an account that had processed around 4.1 million US dollars in almost 6,000 transactions and was registered on a Nigerian passport according to an analyst.
British officers arrested the alleged blackmail when he ended up in Guildford, England. He stays in custody and waits for delivery, said the analyst.
The majority of the US internet criminal offenses are now drifting with digital currencies. In 2024, the Americans reported 9.3 billion US dollars in connection with crypto-related fraud, more than half of the $ 16.6 billion recorded this year, as FBI data show. Older victims were the largest part and lost almost 2.8 billion US dollars, a large part of them against false investment locations.
Some programs exceed in real violence. In New York, Two investors were charged For allegedly kidnapping and torture by a long -time friend in a town house to force access to his digital wallet. In Connecticut, six men were accused of kidnapping the parents of a teenage hacker who had stolen Bitcoin of 245 million US dollars and had been trying to try it in a failed witness.
In order to turn back stolen means, the Secret Service stands on industry partners. Coin base And in recent cases, Tether have publicly recognized the support that freeze trace analyzes and wallets. One of the largest restoration of $ 225 million in the amount of $ 225 million, which is known as Tether-known US COM dollar token, which is associated with fraud of the romance.
“We have been pursuing the money for 160 years,” said Patrick Freaney, head of the agency’s New York field office, Bermuda. “This training is part of this mission.”
