The US Secret Service has accumulated about $400 million in cryptocurrency seized during investigations. By data Bloomberg, it refers to assets that have been seized in recent years by the Global Investigations and Operations Center (GIOC), which operates under the Secret Service.
Most of these funds are stored in one cold wallet, which is among the largest in the world. The seizures were the result of multiple investigations, with GIOC analysts tracking financial flows using blockchain tools, open data and transaction analysis techniques.
Digital fraud remains the leading cause of internet crime losses in the US. In 2024 alone, Americans lost $9.3 billion in crypto scams — more than half of the total amount of losses, which reached $16.6 billion. Elderly people suffered the most, losing almost $2.8 billion on fake investment platforms.
Victims are initially shown steady profits on down payments, but when they invest more – sometimes even with credit – the scam sites disappear with their money. It was this scheme that became the basis for the largest withdrawal in the history of GIOC – more than $225 million in USDT tokens from Tether.
One of the hacks was made possible by a technical failure of the VPN, which allowed investigators to identify the domain of the fraudulent resource. In another case, investigators tracked down a criminal who blackmailed a teenager from Idaho by threatening to send intimate photos. After two payments of $300 each, the victim contacted the police. GIOC reconstructed the blackmail scheme using blockchain records, screenshots and a fictitious payer.
This made it possible to trace an account issued on a Nigerian passport, through which about 6,000 transactions worth $4.1 million passed. The suspect was detained in Great Britain after his arrival in the country.
GIOC has been actively working with crypto market participants, including Coinbase and Tether, who have provided technical information and helped block wallets as part of investigations.
