FBI seizes almost $2M of crypto assets in three months

A public filing released by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shows that the law enforcement agency seized around $1.7 million worth of digital assets from March to May.

According to the Filing, the FBI seized $147,000 in Bitcoin (BTC), $800,000 in Ether (ETH), $307,000 in Tether (USDT), 469,000 in Dai (DAI) and $20,000 in Monero (XMR). The assets were confiscated from various sources, including Binance exchange wallets.

In the Eastern District of Virginia, the agency confiscated a total of 428.5 ETH, which is the largest amount seized so far. One of the Ether seizures was worth around $463,000.

Within the filing, the FBI also highlighted that the seizures of the assets were a result of various breaches in federal regulations. The FBI wrote:

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gives notice that the property listed below was seized for federal forfeiture for violation of federal law.”

Apart from cryptocurrencies, the FBI also listed the seizure of various items, including United States dollars from bank accounts, sports cars, luxury bags, clothes and shoes.

Related: FBI searched Kraken co-founder’s home in March: Report

Meanwhile, the FBI has been constantly reminding the crypto community about scammers posing as legitimate people within the nonfungible token (NFT) space. On Aug. 6, the FBI warned about account hijackers who take advantage of victims by creating a “sense of urgency” and leading them to fake websites that steal their assets. The FBI said that criminals either hack official social accounts or create new ones similar to official ones to perform theft and fraud.

Apart from phishing scams and social media hijacking, the FBI also warned about fake crypto job advertisements earlier this year. On May 23, the agency noted that U.S. citizens should be aware of false job advertisements related to job trafficking, where victims are forced to commit crypto investment fraud.

Magazine: Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?