The U.S. prosecution recovered nearly $1.7 million in cryptocurrency investment fraud funds through the "civil asset forfeiture process."

According to the U.S. Department of Justice website, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia successfully recovered 420,740.422314 USDT and 1,249,996.15 BUSD through civil asset forfeiture procedures, with a total value of nearly $1.7 million. These funds originated from cryptocurrency investment fraud proceeds and money laundering activities and are currently being returned to the victims.

Court documents show that the scammers contacted victims via text messages and social media, posing as accidental contacts to lure victims into moving to encrypted chat applications. The scammers then gained the victims' trust and encouraged them to "invest" in cryptocurrency on a fraudulent investment website. This website mimicked legitimate cryptocurrency investment platforms but actually transferred the victims' funds to the scammers.