Federal agencies take down massive cryptocurrency fraud operation targeting millions
Federal investigators and Brooklyn law enforcement dismantled a sophisticated scam network by confiscating 112 servers and taking offline 241 fraudulent investment websites that preyed on Russian-speaking communities across America.
Law enforcement officials in Brooklyn, New York, collaborating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), have successfully taken down an Eastern European network of cryptocurrency scammers who allegedly defrauded American victims out of tens of millions of dollars, with a particular focus on Russian-speaking individuals.
The enforcement action, which was executed during the previous week and made public on Wednesday, led to the takedown of 241 fraudulent websites and the confiscation of 112 servers that were being hosted by various companies operating in Eastern Europe as well as the United States, as stated by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. The operation did not result in any arrests.
"These criminals stole many millions of dollars from Russian-speaking victims through an elaborate investment scheme, then tried to exploit them again with false promises to recover their money,"Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. He credited the office's Virtual Currency Unit and the FBI with uncovering the network's infrastructure.
The confiscation of the servers represented a critical component of the enforcement action due to its impact on the fraudsters' capacity to launch new fraudulent websites and make contact with potential victims.
"We disabled the back end of the operation,"Assistant District Attorney Alona Katz, who led the investigation, said, according to Bloomberg.
This enforcement action occurs during a period of escalating cryptocurrency-related fraud incidents throughout the US. Americans reported $11.4 billion in crypto fraud losses in 2025, a 22% increase from the previous year, according to FBI figures cited by Bloomberg.