According to a report by Bloomberg on Saturday, the U.S. Secret Service has quietly seized nearly $400 million in digital assets over the past decade, accumulating one of the largest cold wallets of cryptocurrency in the world.
The Secret Service's Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) utilizes open-source tools, blockchain analysis, and patient tracking of fund flows. According to Secret Service investigative analyst Jamie Lam, who briefed law enforcement in Bermuda last month, the agency has achieved significant results.
A large amount of cryptocurrency assets is mostly concentrated in a single cold storage wallet, a "treasure" that originates from a series of investigations into scams. The typical method involves scammers luring victims into seemingly legitimate cryptocurrency investment platforms. Victims often see initial profits, only for the platform to suddenly disappear, leaving them unable to withdraw their funds.
"This is how they operate," Lam stated. "They send a picture of a handsome guy or a beautiful girl, but it could just be some old man from Russia."
Lam's team has identified scammers through domain registration, blockchain transactions, and VPN missteps. In one case, a cryptocurrency payment led investigators to another wallet; in another instance, a brief VPN failure exposed an IP address, allowing agents to track and reconstruct the scam's activity trail.
The Secret Service's cryptocurrency asset strategy is led by Kali Smith, whose team has provided training to officials from over 60 countries on identifying online financial crimes.
The agency focuses on jurisdictions with weak regulations or those that sell residency rights to foreigners. Smith noted, "Sometimes just a week after training, they exclaim, 'I didn't realize this was happening in our country.'"
The Secret Service's investigations cover a range of scams from romance investment schemes to sexual extortion cases. In one case, a teenager from Idaho sent nude photos to an online stranger and was extorted for $300 twice before reporting to the police.
Analysts traced the payments and found that the funds flowed through a money mule account operated by a coerced teenager, ultimately identifying an account registered under a Nigerian passport with nearly $4.1 million involved. British police arrested a suspect in Guildford, who is currently in custody awaiting extradition.
Cryptocurrency-related scams have become the leading driver of cybercrime losses in the U.S. According to FBI data, losses from cryptocurrency scams in the U.S. reached $9.3 billion in 2024, accounting for more than half of the total cybercrime losses of $16.6 billion that year.
Meanwhile, losses due to hacking, scams, and vulnerabilities in the first half of 2025 have exceeded $2.47 billion, an increase of nearly 3% compared to the $2.4 billion stolen in 2024.
Recovering stolen cryptocurrency assets often relies on cooperation from industry players. Both Coinbase and Tether have acknowledged assisting law enforcement in several major cases by analyzing transactions and freezing wallets. The largest amount recovered involved $225 million in USDT related to a romance scam.
Related: Cryptocurrency CEX spot trading volume hits a nine-month low, with increasing divergence between institutions and retail investors.
Original article: “Secret Service Seizes $400 Million in Crypto Assets, Cold Wallet Ranks Among the Largest Globally”
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