The U.S. Secret Service has secretly seized nearly $400 million in cryptocurrency over the past decade, creating one of the world’s largest cold wallets for digital assets, according to a Bloomberg report. The seizures are the result of relentless investigations into online scams and fraud schemes, largely led by the agency’s Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC).

Using blockchain analysis, domain tracing, and VPN tracking, investigators followed digital footprints left behind by scammers. One tactic involved tracing a single cryptocurrency transaction, while another breakthrough came from a scammer’s momentary VPN failure that exposed a real IP address. The team, led by Kali Smith, has trained law enforcement across more than 60 countries to combat these sophisticated crimes.

Much of the seized crypto originates from deceptive schemes where victims are lured into fake investment platforms with promises of high returns. Often, these scams begin with fake profiles and manipulated romance scenarios. In one disturbing case, an Idaho teenager was sextorted by a scammer who was later found to be linked to over $4 million in transactions and was arrested in the UK.

Crypto fraud has now become the leading cause of internet crime losses in the U.S., with Americans losing $9.3 billion to such schemes in 2024. In just the first half of 2025, over $2.47 billion in crypto has already been stolen through hacks and scams, marking a slight increase from last year.

Major industry players like Coinbase and Tether have stepped in to help recover stolen funds, with one major case involving $225 million in USDT linked to romance fraud. The Secret Service’s quiet crypto crackdown is now one of the most successful anti-fraud operations in cyberspace.