Victims of the “wrong number” scam across the United States, including Ohio, are getting some form of justice thanks to the latest initiatives of the US authorities. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 33 crypto fraud victims nationwide, including a city of Mentor resident, have been identified. Court documents reveal that the victims lost more than $4.9 million, and the FBI is currently identifying five more accounts and their owners that are potential victims. 

Also, the US Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Ohio has submitted a civil complaint requesting the forfeiture of 8,207,578 Tether valued at around $8.2 million. Authorities revealed that the victims were convinced to invest in cryptocurrency scams through messaging using random phone numbers.

The FBI and the US Attorney’s Office of the Northern Ohio District work overtime to bring the scammers to justice. According to court documents and stories of victims, the scammers sent them messages from random numbers, pretending they had reached the wrong number. 

Then, the scammers will befriend the recipients to gain their trust and convince them to invest in a cryptocurrency scam. According to the FBI, 33 victims have already been identified, and five more are being considered, with losses exceeding $6 million. 

“A.H.”, one of the victims from Mentor, Ohio, shared how the scammers reached her. She shared that the scammer sent her a message in November 2023, and they soon started exchanging messages about religion and hobbies, which she believed to be a resident of Seattle, Washington.

After gaining her trust, the scammer convinced her to consider digital currency investments. “A.H.” revealed that she invested $250k into the project after she was told to set up an account at Crypto.com and wire the funds to the exchange. Then, she added that she was instructed to send the money to a specific crypto address.

After receiving the complaint from “A.H.”, Investigators immediately reviewed and tracked the transactions on the blockchain. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center led the investigations, and the team discovered that some of the missing funds were swapped for Tether. After getting a federal seizure warrant, Tether immediately complied, froze the funds, and promptly transferred these to the authorities.

On February 27th, acting US Attorney for Ohio Carol Skutnik and assistant US Attorney Morford requested that all funds be transferred to three crypto addresses so that they could facilitate the return of the money to scam victims.

Featured image from Reuters, chart from TradingView

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