The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized digital assets worth $1.7 million from March to May in the United States.
According to the filing, the Federal law enforcement agency seized Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), USD Tether (USDT), Monero (XMR), and DAI in its ongoing efforts to curb unlawful activities.
Specifically, the FBI confiscated $147,000 worth of BTC, $800,000 in ETH, $307,000 in USDT, $20,000 in Monero, and $469,000 in DAI. The FBI also seized other assets including luxury cars and banks, fiat currencies in bank accounts as well as other fashion items.
The Bureau cited multiple breaches in federal law as part of its reason for the seizure.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gives notice that the property listed below was seized for federal forfeiture for violation of federal law.”
The FBI explained that the seized digital asset was tracked to multiple sources emanating from several locations from accounts on Binance and other exchanges.
A major seizure that caught the eye of many crypto observers was in the Eastern District of Virginia where 428.5 ETH was seized totaling $463,000 at press time making it the largest amount apprehended.
The FBI has released multiple statements warning investors and citizens from prevalent tactics deployed by bad actors to carry out crypto-based scams.
“Be cautious of those get-rich schemes; educate yourself and prevent scammers from fattening their pockets with your hard-earned money, or using you as a money mule to help launder funds within their criminal enterprises,” the statement read.
Amidst the general market turmoil of last year, notably the crash of the Terra ecosystem in April and the collapse of FTX in November, crypto scams hit new highs totaling over $2 billion.
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