Secret Service Recovers $400 Million in Crypto Assets Over Decade

The US Secret Service’s Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) has emerged as a significant force in global crypto enforcement, recovering nearly $400 million in digital assets from cybercriminals over the past decade. The GIOC specializes in tracing digital financial crimes across borders, using open-source tools to track scams back to their origins. In one instance, a victim was lured into a cryptocurrency investment platform by a friendly stranger, only to see their account balance vanish after initial gains. The GIOC traced this scam back to a domain, a crypto wallet, and an exposed IP address, thanks to a brief VPN glitch.

The GIOC has become one of the most powerful players in crypto enforcement, seizing nearly $400 million in digital assets. Much of this is held in a cold-storage wallet, making it one of the largest known government-controlled digital asset holdings. Kali Smith, the Secret Service’s head of cryptocurrency strategy, has been central to this effort. Under her leadership, the agency has trained law enforcement and prosecutors in over 60 countries, targeting jurisdictions vulnerable to exploitation through weak regulation or residency-for-sale schemes.

During a week-long workshop in Bermuda, Smith highlighted the importance of strong investigative powers to deal with the abuse of technologies and financial services. Bermuda, known for its advanced crypto regulations, hosted the workshop amid growing concern that its digital asset-friendly policies could attract bad actors. Governor Andrew Murdoch emphasized the need for strong investigative powers to combat the exploitation of these technologies.

Smith warned that scam victims often falsely assume Bitcoin guarantees safety. In one real-life case, an Idaho teenager was extorted into paying hundreds of dollars after sending an intimate photo online. The investigation revealed a network of transactions funneled through another American teen, ultimately leading to a crypto wallet that had processed nearly $4.1 million through 6,000 transactions. The wallet was linked to a Nigerian passport, and the suspect was arrested in England, awaiting extradition.

Digital asset fraud is now the top cause of cybercrime losses in the US, with Americans losing $9.3 billion to scam schemes related to crypto in 2024. Heists and fraud losses accounted for more than half of the FBI’s $16.6 billion total for the year. The elderly were hit the hardest, with losses approaching $2.8 billion, much of that to fraudulent investment sites. In more extreme cases, digital theft has escalated to real-world violence. In New York, two men were charged with kidnapping and torturing a longtime friend to access his crypto wallet. In Connecticut, six individuals were accused of abducting and beating the parents of a teenage hacker who had stolen $245 million in Bitcoin in a failed ransom attempt.

The Secret Service often works with large cryptocurrency firms to track stolen money. Companies have been invaluable in investigating by conducting wallet analysis and freezing accounts suspected of fraudulent activity. One of the largest hauls was $225 million USDT, linked to a sweeping romance-investment scam. The agency’s focus on tracking dirty money is part of a broader, decades-old mission that has now been extended to the digital world, with the New York field office taking on a leading role in global cryptocurrency enforcement and training efforts.