112 servers and 241 fake sites knocked offline in one of the largest cyber takedowns ever by a local prosecutor. S. Working with the FBI, investigators executed search warrants across three time zones in a matter of hours and seized or disrupted 241 scam domains and more than 100 cloud servers hosted by Eastern European and American companies.
The servers held the scammersâ victim data, site content and operating software, according to a Wednesday statement. âOur groundbreaking Virtual Currency Unit identified the fraud, tracked the stolen cryptocurrency, broke new ground by uncovering the infrastructure behind the operation, and worked with the FBI to dismantle it,â Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. co/aLVPJb2BqX âBy disrupting more than 100 servers and hundreds of fraudulent websites, we have struck at the heart of this criminal enterprise and made it far harder for these scammers to victimize others.
â The scam worked by luring victims via Russian-language investment ads on Facebook. A Russian-speaking âadvisorâ then called and walked them through opening an account on a fake crypto platform and buying digital assets. â Some lost their life savings.
Then the scammers came back for more: Posing as recovery services, they contacted victims weeks later and promised to retrieve the stolen money. The unit had already taken down 400 scam domains, but new ones kept appearing. Hitting the servers behind them cuts off the scammersâ ability to launch new sites quickly or reach past victims.
The three-year investigation has recovered about $300,000 so far, and prosecutors say they are working to claw back more.
