US DEA’s $50k Loss to Crypto Scammer Revealed in Forbes Report
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has fallen victim to a crypto scam, losing more than $50,000 in Tether’s USDT cryptocurrency. The incident came to light through a recent report by Forbes on August 24th.
According to the report, the DEA unintentionally transferred 55,000 USDT to a fraudulent wallet controlled by a cunning scammer. The scam involved misleading the DEA into sending the funds to the scammer’s wallet instead of the intended destination, which was the U.S. Marshal’s address.
In a previous event that laid the groundwork for this scam, the DEA had confiscated 500,000 USDT from two Binance accounts back in May. These funds were linked to proceeds from narcotics-related activities. To secure the seized assets, the DEA had moved them to addresses under its direct control.
However, the scam unfolded during an attempt to transfer the seized funds to the U.S. Marshal, an agency responsible for managing and liquidating all cryptocurrency assets seized by the U.S. government.
The DEA, prior to the major transfer, conducted a trial transaction amounting to $45.36 to the U.S. Marshal Service’s address. Exploiting this transaction, the scammer quickly generated an address that appeared strikingly similar to that of the legitimate U.S. agency. By duplicating the first five and last four characters of the authentic U.S. Marshal’s address, the scammer crafted a deceptive address.
Taking advantage of this ruse, the scammer sent an unspecified token to the DEA’s address, creating the illusion that the U.S. Marshal’s address had returned the funds. Falling for the trap, the DEA sent over 55,000 USDT to the scammer’s wallet.
Although the U.S. Marshals promptly alerted the DEA about the error, the damage was already done. By that point, the scammer had converted the funds into Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC), effectively preventing Tether from freezing the assets.
Despite the setback, the FBI and DEA investigators have taken up the task of tracking down the lost funds. Their investigation has led them to trace the scammer’s address back to two Binance addresses.
To aid in their pursuit, law enforcement agencies have obtained a search warrant for Google’s cooperation. They hope to gather information about the Gmail addresses linked to the suspicious account.
As of now, the federal agencies involved in the case have chosen not to disclose any details about their ongoing investigations. However, should the identity of the scammer be uncovered, legal proceedings are likely to follow.
