Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on 14 October that his office's Virtual Currency Unit and the FBI seized or disrupted 241 websites and 112 servers behind a crypto investment scam that targeted Russian-speaking Americans. Prosecutors say the network stole tens of millions of dollars, then went back to the same victims offering to "recover" it for a fee. About $300,000 has been clawed back so far. No arrests have been announced.

How the scam worked

Victims clicked Russian-language investment ads on Facebook. A friendly "adviser" phoned them and walked them, step by step, through buying crypto and sending it to a trading platform that looked real but wasn't. The balance on screen grew. When people tried to withdraw, they were told to pay extra fees and taxes first.

Then came the second scam

Records seized by investigators showed the same group contacting victims a few weeks later with offers to get their stolen money back. Gonzalez said the criminals stole many millions through the investment scheme and then tried to exploit the same people again with recovery promises. This is the cruelest part of crypto fraud, and it's common enough that the FBI has issued public warnings about fake "law firms" and recovery agents.

Why going after servers matters

During its three-year investigation, the unit had already knocked out about 400 scam domains, and new ones kept appearing almost as fast. This time it went after the servers, hosted in Eastern Europe and the US, that held the victim lists, data and software behind the sites. Investigators traced the network to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Coverage notes the money recovered so far is small next to the losses.

What to do

  • Nobody legitimate charges you upfront to get stolen crypto back. Not a lawyer, not a "blockchain investigator", not the police. The FBI says law enforcement never charges a fee to investigate.
  • If someone already knows how much you lost and offers to help, treat it as the same scammers coming back.
  • A trading site that makes you pay "taxes" or "fees" before a withdrawal is a scam. Check any platform with our crypto due diligence checklist.
  • If it happened to you, report it at ic3.gov and to your local police. That's free.

Who in your family reads Russian-language news or investment ads? Send this to them.

Sources: Brooklyn District Attorney's Office announcement, 14 Oct 2026, The Record, CoinDesk, Decrypt, CBS New York, FBI IC3 warning on fake law firms.