In the United States, secret services are increasingly interested in crypto scams, notably by training their foreign counterparts. What do we know about the actions taken?
Secret services tackle crypto scams head-on
A Bloomberg report published this weekend details how US intelligence agencies are tackling cryptocurrency scams. In this regard, training was provided to Bermuda authorities last month, as the archipelago reaffirmed its ambition to become a global crypto hub three years ago.
Among the topics discussed, Jamie Lam, an investigative analyst with the US Secret Service, cites a case where the victim was lured into investing in a fictitious platform and encouraged to borrow money to maximize their gains after a supposed profit. As is often the case with such scams, the platform then disappeared from view:
That’s how they do it. They send you a photo of a really handsome man or woman. But it’s probably just an old man in Russia.
In this case, the perpetrators were identified through on-chain analysis and open source tools. In addition, a failure in the VPN used also made it possible to trace the IP address.
Of course, these methods are not unique to the US secret services. Three years ago, police major Erwan Bouliou explained how law enforcement agencies in France were being trained to raise awareness of blockchain technologies.
Last February, we also looked at the methods used to trace and block the ransom money demanded during the kidnapping of David Balland, one of the co-founders of Ledger.
Returning to the US secret services, the Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) has seized $400 million in digital assets over the past 10 years, according to sources close to the case.
While Americans are estimated to have been defrauded of $9.3 billion in cryptocurrencies in 2024, Andrew Murdoch, the governor of Bermuda, insists on the need for training in these technologies:
Financial technologies and services are fantastic for economic growth, but they can also be exploited. In addition to these benefits, strong investigative powers are needed to combat abuse of the law.”
To judge the effectiveness of such training, we will need to look at the percentage of funds recovered in cases of crypto scams or theft over the next few years. Already, major companies in the sector are working with law enforcement agencies to intercept illicit funds as they pass through their services, such as Binance, Coinbase, and Tether, among others.
