DoJ Seizes $61 Million in Tether Linked to Pig Butchering Crypto Scams  Ravie Lakshmanan  Feb 27, 2026 Financial Crime / Social Engineering The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) this week announced the seizure of $61 million worth of Tether that were allegedly associated with bogus cryptocurrency schemes known as pig butchering . The confiscated funds were traced to cryptocurrency addresses used for the laundering of criminally derived proceeds stolen from victims of cryptocurrency investment scams, the department added. "Criminal actors and professional money launderers use cyber-enabled fraud schemes to swindle their victims and conceal their ill-gotten gains," said HSI Charlotte Acting Special Agent in Charge Kyle D. Burns. "HSI special agents work diligently to trace the illicit proceeds of crime across the globe to disrupt and dismantle the transnational criminal organizations that seek to defraud hardworking Americans." As is the norm in such cybercrime operations, threat actors are known to target individuals by cultivating romantic relationships after approaching them on dating and social media messaging apps. These activities are carried out by individuals who are trafficked into scam compounds operating primarily in Southeast Asia with promises of high-paying jobs. The cybercrime syndicates behind the scams then confiscate their passports and are coerced into conning victims online by posing as charming strangers or brokers on investment platforms, or face brutal consequences. The end goal is to coax unsuspecting users into parting with their hard-earned money in fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. According to the DoJ, the fake platforms displayed made-up investment portfolios displaying unusually high returns in a deliberate attempt to make victims invest more of their funds. The reality hits when users try to withdraw their funds, at which point they are asked to pay an extra fee as a way to extract even more money from them. "Once the victims' money transferred to a cryptocurrency wallet under the scammers’ control, the crooks quickly routed that money through many other wallets to hide the nature, source, control, and ownership of that stolen money," the department added. In a coordinated announcement, Tether said it has frozen around $4.2 billion in assets linked to illicit activity to date, including nearly $250 million related to scam networks since June 2025 alone. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Google News , Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE      Tweet  Share  Share  Share   Share on Facebook  Share on Twitter  Share on Linkedin  Share on Reddit  Share on Hacker News  Share on Email  Share on WhatsApp Share on Facebook Messenger  Share on Telegram SHARE  cryptocurrency , cybersecurity , Financial Crime , Investment Scam , law enforcement , money laundering , social engineering , Tether Trending News Researchers Show Copilot and Grok Can Be Abused as Malware C2 Proxies ⚡ Weekly Recap: Double-Tap Skimmers, PromptSpy AI, 30Tbps DDoS, Docker Malware and More ThreatsDay Bulletin: Kali Linux + Claude, Chrome Crash Traps, WinRAR Flaws, LockBit and 15+ Stories Cisco SD-WAN Zero-Day CVE-2026-20127 Exploited Since 2023 for Admin Access Claude Code Flaws Allow Remote Code Execution and API Key Exfiltration Anthropic Says Chinese AI Firms Used 16 Million Claude Queries to Copy Model Anthropic Launches Claude Code Security for AI-Powered Vulnerability Scanning AI-Assisted Threat Actor Compromises 600+ FortiGate Devices in 55 Countries ClickFix Campaign Abuses Compromised Sites to Deploy MIMICRAT Malware Cline CLI 2.3.0 Supply Chain Attack Installed OpenClaw on Developer Systems PromptSpy Android Malware Abuses Gemini AI to Automate Recent-Apps Persistence Notepad++ Fixes Hijacked Update Mechanism Used to Deliver Targeted Malware Dell RecoverPoint for VMs Zero-Day CVE-2026-22769 Exploited Since Mid-2024 Citizen Lab Finds Cellebrite Tool Used on Kenyan Activist’s Phone in Police Custody Identity Prioritization isn't a Backlog Problem - It's a Risk Math Problem How Exposed Endpoints Increase Risk Across LLM Infrastructure Popular Resources 100+ Domains Multiply Attack Risk 6× - Download the CTEM Divide Research Boost SOC Efficiency with AI-Guided Triage — Download Investigator Overview Silent Residency Is the New Threat Model — Download the Red Report Exposed Cloud Training Apps Are Letting Hackers In — Download the Research