US Secret Service Seizes $400M in Crypto-Tracking Global Scams Networks

Key Highlights 

• $400M in crypto seized over a decade by the U.S. Secret Service.

• Americans lost $9.3B to crypto scams in 2024, the most significant driver of internet crime losses.

• In 2025 so far, Investors have lost over $2 billion in crypto. 

The U.S. Secret Service recovered $400 million from Crypto 

Over the past decade, the agency has recovered close to $400 million in stolen digital assets, quietly amassing one of the largest cold-storage crypto wallets controlled by any government.

Most of the public knows the Secret Service for protecting the president. However, behind the scenes, a specialized division has been pursuing digital criminals across borders and blockchains. 

Read Also: Hackers steal $2.1 billion in crypto in 2025

Much of the seized $400 million now sits in a single cold-storage wallet under Secret Service control. It’s one of the most significant known crypto holdings in the hands of a government.

The agency doesn't work alone. Partnerships with crypto giants like Coinbase and Tether have been instrumental in tracing blockchain movements and freezing tainted funds. In one of its biggest busts, the agency recovered $225 million in USDT, tied to romance-investment scams.

Tracking Crypto Scams and  Darkest Corners

The Secret Service’s Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC), a little-known unit, has cracked open cases that sound more like Netflix scripts than law enforcement reports.

One case involved a teenager in Idaho who was blackmailed after sending intimate photos online. Another led to a Nigerian national, arrested in the UK, whose wallet had handled over $4.1 million through thousands of transactions. 

In many of these cases, scammers lure victims with professional-looking crypto platforms. The charts look real, the customer support is slick, and initial profits convince targets to go all-in. Then, just like that, poof, the platform vanishes along with the funds.

“They’ll send you a photo of a handsome guy or girl. But it’s probably some old guy in Russia,” 

said Jamie Lam, 

An investigative analyst with the Secret Service, during a recent law enforcement training in Bermuda.

 Global Training, Local Impact

At the center of this digital dragnet is Kali Smith, the Secret Service's head of cryptocurrency strategy. She has led the agency's effort to train officials in over 60 countries, often targeting jurisdictions with weak crypto oversight or lax residency-for-sale programs.

“Sometimes after just a week-long training, they realize these scams are happening right under their noses,” 

Smith said.

In Bermuda, one of the world's more crypto-friendly regulatory environments, officials gathered this year to learn how scammers exploit weak oversight. Smith emphasized that the illusion of Bitcoin being anonymous and secure often traps victims who falsely assume they can't be tracked.

Crypto Scams Are America's Top Cybercrime Losses

In 2024 alone, Americans lost $9.3 billion to crypto scams, more than half of all internet crime losses, according to the FBI. Seniors were especially vulnerable, losing nearly $2.8 billion to fake investment platforms and sextortion schemes.

And in 2025, the theft hasn't stopped. $2.47 billion has already been lost to hacks, scams, and exploits, a nearly 3% jump from last year.

In extreme cases, crypto crimes have escalated into real-world violence. In one high-profile incident, six people were charged with kidnapping the parents of a teenage hacker who had stolen $245 million in Bitcoin. 

In another case, two men allegedly tortured a former friend to extract his wallet credentials.