An Ohio brother and sister fell victim to a sophisticated cryptocurrency investment scam, losing over $1 million, the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced. The scam started with an innocuous text and developed into a full-blown fraudulent scheme that deceived the siblings into transferring significant amounts of money into a fake investment platform. The civil complaint in forfeiture, filed on Wednesday, Aug. 27, is particularly noteworthy as it traces and targets 325,060 Tether (USDT) digital tokens believed to be acquired through this scam, valued at about $325,060.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Ohio, the events unfolded starting on Nov. 24, 2024, when the male victim reported the fraud to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. Initially contacted by someone looking for a "Zach," the victim engaged in conversation via Telegram with the scammer, posing as "Shaw Goddess." The scammer gained the victim's trust and directed him, and eventually his sister, to invest large sums into crypto through exchanges such as Crypto.com and Strike.com, and then to a fraudulent platform. The ordeal came to light when attempts to withdraw funds from the sham investment site were blocked or taxed unexpectedly, spurring the realization of the scam.
Investigators implemented blockchain analysis to track a portion of the stolen funds, discovering about $200,000 of the victim's assets converted to USDT on the Tron blockchain. Tether Limited, Inc. acted by freezing the tokens at the subject cryptocurrency address, and, following a federal seizure warrant obtained on March 20, 2025, the tokens were seized.
In the forfeiture action, the government aims to recover not only the victims' traceable losses but also additional funds linked to the address, as they are believed to be connected with other illicit activities and money laundering violations. Although the claims are just allegations at this point, the government must prove their case to gain forfeiture of the assets. If successful, there is hope to return at least some of the stolen funds back to the victims, a silver lining in what has become a cautionary tale about the perils of digital currency investments.
With the case gaining momentum, the FBI Cleveland Division continues its investigation, dedicated to uncovering and prosecuting such cryptocurrency fraud schemes nationwide. The office advises older adults, who may be particularly vulnerable to these kinds of scams, to report fraudulent conduct implicating elder victims to the National Elder Fraud Hotline or submit reports through the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center.
