US law enforcement officials seek to confiscate approximately $1 million in USDT in Ohio pension fraud case

According to an announcement released by the U.S. Department of Justice, the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio (USAO) has filed a civil lawsuit seeking the forfeiture of 947,883 USDT. According to court documents, the cryptocurrency scam began around October 2023 when an Elyria, Ohio man was contacted through a pop-up window on his computer and was instructed to call a number to resolve a technical issue. The victim was then told that his retirement account had been compromised and the funds were wired to accounts in China or Russia and a casino in Las Vegas. He was given a so-called solution and was told that he could stop the trading by wiring money. Thinking he was protecting his retirement account, the victim provided remote computer access to the scammers, who then began to withdraw funds and transfer them to various cryptocurrency accounts. All in all, the victim lost his entire savings of $425,000 in this cryptocurrency scam. Investigators conducted a blockchain analysis and determined that the stolen funds had been converted into USDT and placed in virtual currency wallets. Law enforcement officials executed a federal seizure order on July 31, 2024, to recover 947,883 USDT tokens, which were then transferred to virtual currency wallets controlled by law enforcement. According to a forfeiture complaint filed on November 26, 2024, the United States seeks to forfeit the USDT. If successful, the United States will seek to provide compensation to the victims. In the complaint, U.S. authorities stated that additional cryptocurrency contained in the address will be confiscated as fraud proceeds.