The U.S. Secret Service has confiscated digital assets worth approximately $400 million over the past decade as part of investigations into cryptocurrency-related crimes. The majority of these funds are stored in a separate cold crypto wallet, which is considered one of the largest in the world in terms of the volume of stored digital assets.
This is reported by Finway
How Secret Service Agents Track Crypto Assets
To investigate cryptocurrency-related crimes, the agency’s Global Investigations Operations Center (GIOC) employs blockchain analysis tools, domain name registries, and digital footprints, allowing for effective tracking of criminal activities. In some cases, agents have identified criminals due to technical errors, such as a brief VPN failure that revealed the scammer’s IP address.
Most cases involve pseudo-investment schemes, where victims are shown fabricated profits to gain their trust, after which the perpetrators disappear with the invested funds.
“They send a nice photo, but behind it is an old person from Russia,” joked Secret Service agent Jamie Lem.
Fraud and International Cooperation
According to Kali Smith, head of the cryptocurrency division, the agency operates in dozens of countries, including regions with insufficient regulation and widespread residency purchase schemes. During one operation, a Nigerian citizen suspected of sexual extortion was apprehended—he was tracked down through an analysis of the transfer chain and the involvement of a teenager as a “money mule.”
According to the FBI, cryptocurrency fraud has become the most prevalent category of internet crimes in the U.S. In 2024, victims of such schemes lost $9.3 billion, accounting for more than half of all reported losses from cybercrimes. Since the beginning of 2025, losses have already reached $2.47 billion—more than during the same period last year.
Thanks to collaboration with industry representatives, including companies like Coinbase and Tether, law enforcement has been able to freeze assets and receive assistance in investigations. In June 2025, with the involvement of these companies, $225 million in USDT was confiscated as part of the exposure of one of the large-scale fraud schemes.
It was previously reported that one of the scammers from Nigeria embezzled over 250,000 USDT by impersonating another individual.