The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) this week announced the seizure of $61 million worth of Tether that were allegedly associated with bogus cryptocurrency schemes known as pig butchering.
The confiscated funds were traced to cryptocurrency addresses used for the laundering of criminally derived proceeds stolen from victims of cryptocurrency investment scams, the department added.
“Criminal actors and professional money launderers use cyber-enabled fraud schemes to swindle their victims and conceal their ill-gotten gains,” said HSI Charlotte Acting Special Agent in Charge Kyle D. Burns.
“HSI special agents work diligently to trace the illicit proceeds of crime across the globe to disrupt and dismantle the transnational criminal organizations that seek to defraud hardworking Americans.”
As is the norm in such cybercrime operations, threat actors are known to target individuals by cultivating romantic relationships after approaching them on dating and social media messaging apps. These activities are carried out by individuals who are trafficked into scam compounds operating primarily in Southeast Asia with promises of high-paying jobs.
The cybercrime syndicates behind the scams then confiscate their passports and are coerced into conning victims online by posing as charming strangers or brokers on investment platforms, or face brutal consequences. The end goal is to coax unsuspecting users into parting with their hard-earned money in fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes.
According to the DoJ, the fake platforms displayed made-up investment portfolios displaying unusually high returns in a deliberate attempt to make victims invest more of their funds. The reality hits when users try to withdraw their funds, at which point they are asked to pay an extra fee as a way to extract even more money from them.
“Once the victims’ money transferred to a cryptocurrency wallet under the scammers’ control, the crooks quickly routed that money through many other wallets to hide the nature, source, control, and ownership of that stolen money,” the department added.
In a coordinated announcement, Tether said it has frozen around $4.2 billion in assets linked to illicit activity to date, including nearly $250 million related to scam networks since June 2025 alone.
