US Law Enforcement Tracks and Freezes $61 Million in Crypto Romance Scam Funds

In February 2026, U.S. federal law enforcement in North Carolina successfully froze over $61 million in USDT (Tether), exposing a large-scale romance crypto scam, commonly known as a 'pig butchering' scam. These scams build trust through virtual emotional relationships, luring victims to inject funds into fake investment platforms, ultimately achieving large-scale financial plunder. Investigators fully utilized the public and immutable nature of the blockchain to track the flow of funds between multiple wallets. Although the scam syndicate attempted to conceal their tracks through multiple transfers and mixing tools, each transaction was permanently recorded on the chain, providing a solid foundation for tracing.

With the help of blockchain analysis technology, law enforcement clustered addresses, combined transaction times, amount patterns, and fund concentration nodes to link multiple dispersed wallets to the same criminal network. This technical approach significantly improved the ability to identify complex money laundering chains. It is worth noting that all of the frozen funds were in USDT. After receiving a legitimate law enforcement request, Tether quickly froze the tokens in the relevant addresses, effectively preventing the outflow of funds. This case highlights the critical role of stablecoins in regulatory compliance. In the initial stages of the scam, criminals typically establish close relationships through social platforms, gradually gaining the victim's trust. They then guide the victim to access realistic and beautifully designed fake trading platforms. These platforms display fake trading data, exaggerated yield curves, and simulated real-time market charts, creating the illusion of 'guaranteed profits'.

After seeing the virtual profits in their accounts continue to grow, victims often increase their investment until their funds are completely drained. Once all the funds enter the platform, they are quickly split and transferred to multiple on-chain wallets, forming a complex network of funds. This operation is not only a recovery of funds, but also marks a leap in the ability of law enforcement agencies to investigate digital financial crimes. Through cross-departmental collaboration, the application of blockchain technology, and the cooperation of stablecoin issuers, a three-dimensional combat system against crypto scams has been built. This case also provides a replicable investigation paradigm for global regulators.