US Seeks Forfeiture of Stolen Crypto After Fake Coinbase Texts
US prosecutors have filed a civil forfeiture action to recover cryptocurrency stolen from two wallets held within one Coinbase account. The theft, allegedly facilitated by fake texts posing as Coinbase, resulted in the loss of approximately $900,000 worth of Bitcoin. According to federal investigators, the scammer obtained login credentials and passwords from the beneficiary through phishing messages that appeared to come from Coinbase.
The investigation traced 11.2 BTC to a Binance account, where it was converted into monero, a cryptocurrency designed for anonymity. The Binance account held approximately $758,550 worth of monero when frozen at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's request.
Prosecutors are seeking to forfeit $110,270 in USDT seized from the Binance account, which they believe represents assets linked to the stolen Bitcoin. In a separate forfeiture action, authorities have previously traced fraud proceeds to Binance accounts in Massachusetts.