BOSTON – The United States Attorney’s Office filed a civil forfeiture action to recover 110,270 USDT (Tether), alleged to be proceeds of a fraud scheme in which a Massachusetts victim was deceived into providing account login information to scammers, who then removed funds from the victim’s account. The cryptocurrency currently has an estimated value of approximately $47,000.
As alleged in the complaint, while corresponding via email with Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, the victim received fraudulent text messages purporting to be from “Coinbase” that induced the victim to share login, password, and other information that allowed access to the victim’s Coinbase account. Thereafter, funds from the account were removed without the consent of the victim. Some of the funds were traced to a cryptocurrency account at Biance, another cryptocurrency exchange, and seized in August 2026. In an account takeover fraud scheme, cyber criminals deliberately gain unauthorized access to a victim's online bank, payroll, health savings or social media account, with the goal of stealing money or information for personal gain.
It is a violation of federal law to use wire communications as part of a scheme to defraud or to obtain money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, and property so obtained is subject to forfeiture. A civil forfeiture action allows third parties to assert claims to property, which must be resolved before the property can be forfeited to the United States and returned to victims.
This is one of several civil forfeiture actions the U.S. Attorney’s Office has filed seeking to forfeit cryptocurrency traced to fraud schemes targeting Massachusetts victims.
Members of the public who believe they are victims of a cybercrime – including cryptocurrency scams, tech support scams, investment scams and business email compromise fraud scams – should contact USAMA.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carole E. Head, Chief of the Asset Recovery Unit is prosecuting the civil forfeiture action.
The details contained in the civil forfeiture complaint are allegations.