US Seeks Forfeiture of $900K in Stolen Bitcoin
A Massachusetts family trust lost approximately $900,000 in Bitcoin after a beneficiary shared account details following fake text messages that appeared to come from Coinbase. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts has filed a civil forfeiture action to recover cryptocurrency seized from an account at Binance.
The alleged scam began when a beneficiary received two text messages on June 1 and 2, 2023, that induced them to share their login, password, and other details. At the time, the wallets, combined, contained 33.7 BTC, valued then at approximately $900,000.
Investigations followed part of the stolen Bitcoin to a Binance account through transactions made between June 5 and 15, 2023. The account was frozen by Binance at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's request after tracing 11.2 BTC to it. The seized assets include approximately 758.55 monero.
The U.S. seeks forfeiture of crypto seized from Binance, which has transferred approximately 110,270 USDT to a government-controlled wallet in place of the frozen monero. The alleged theft began with messages that appeared to come from an exchange the beneficiary was already contacting.