My lovely people! Get ready for this serious thing that the United States Secret Service just dropped! It turns out that, in the last ten years, these guys have been seizing over 400 million dollars in bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies from criminals. Just as you hear it! And the craziest part is that a huge portion of that money is stored in a single 'cold wallet', one of those that are not connected to the internet! Just imagine the treasure they have there. 🥶
It turns out that the Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) of the Secret Service, who are like the cyber detectives of the government, spend their time tracking down ill-gotten funds using very sophisticated tools, as if they were following digital breadcrumbs. And not only that, they also have the help of large companies in the crypto world! For example, Coinbase and Tether are two of the ones that have helped them the most, assisting in analyzing transactions and freezing those scammers' wallets so they can't move the money. It's a team effort, my people! 🤝
The thing is, these investigators are experts at piecing together the puzzle. They use everything from website records, transactions that are recorded on the blockchain (which is like the public and super secure ledger of cryptos), and even the mistakes that crooks make when using VPNs! All to track down the scammers and recover the money.
And hold on, because the largest seizure wasn't long ago. In June of this very year, they seized 225 million dollars in USDT! This money came from a crypto investment scam that was part of a giant money laundering scheme. A crazy thing! And note that a large part of that cash was taken from the sadly infamous romance scams and sextortion, which, by the way, are rising like foam in 2025! So, be careful with who you chat with online! 💔🎣
They also recovered 40,000 USDT from a phishing scam (when fake emails are sent to steal your information) where the scammers posed as none other than Donald Trump's own team. What a story!
The Secret Service says that most of the time they take cryptocurrencies from people or companies that set up pyramid schemes and exit scams, where they promise you the moon and the stars in crypto investments, make you earn a little at first to gain your trust, and then, poof!, the site disappears with all your deposits. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but it happens! 😩
These folks have focused on areas where crypto regulation is looser, taking advantage of the fact that criminals feel more comfortable operating there to catch the culprits and make their massive seizures. And all this money they are recovering will go straight to the national reserve that, supposedly, Donald Trump wants to implement!
Right now, it is said that the U.S. government already has 207,189 BTC. Although they are waiting for an audit to confirm the exact number, with all these seizures, that amount is sure to keep rising like foam! So, let's stay alert to how this crypto world moves and be wary of the cunning! 😉$BTC
