The US government has seized an Ethereum (ETH) wallet containing approximately $2.12 million in USDT through a civil forfeiture lawsuit. The complaint alleged that the money came from a massive investment scam linked to a “pig slaughter” operation.
In a civil action in rem, property is the target, rather than charging an individual in a criminal case. In this case, the $2,117,677.97 USDT held in the cryptocurrency wallet was the property.
How do scammers work?
According to the complaintScammers used dating apps, WhatsApp, social media and fake job offers to reach victims.
They later directed victims to fake cryptocurrency investment platforms that promised guaranteed returns. These fake platforms showed fake profits to attract larger deposits.
Several victims, including one from Tennessee, were identified by investigators as having lost large amounts of money. This happened after the victim was tricked into paying additional taxes or verification fees when they tried to withdraw their money.
Since the platforms were fraudulent and the stolen assets were actually transferred through intermediary cryptocurrency wallets, the withdrawals never took place.
In addition, to hide the source of the stolen funds, the fraud network transferred them through several destinations Ethereum governor. However, investigators were able to link the assets to an Ethereum wallet through blockchain analysis.
According to the US Department of Justice, USDT is subject to forfeiture under federal law because it represents the proceeds of online fraud and money laundering. Since Tether issued the tokens, authorities have been working with the company to freeze USDT in its cryptocurrency wallet.
Crypto scams are on the rise
The complaint also highlighted the broader increase in cryptocurrency investment fraud. However, in 2024, the FBI received more than 41,000 complaints about losses totaling $5.8 billion.
Furthermore, the cryptocurrency industry saw 207 hack incidents in the first half of 2026. This is more than double the number of hacks reported in the same period in 2025 of 85 incidents. According to TRM Laboratories. It is worth noting that A The rise in vulnerabilities across DeFi protocols was reflected in 126 incidents that occurred in the second quarter.
Final summary
- Scammers have used dating apps, WhatsApp, social media and fake job offers to reach victims.
- The scammer even tried to hide the source of the stolen funds by transferring them between multiple Ethereum wallets.
