The New York State Department of Financial Services, alongside the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Attorney General, announced the disruption of a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme that used deceptive Facebook advertisements and fake trading websites to target Russian-speaking New Yorkers. Court orders led to the seizure of USD 140,000 in cryptocurrency, the freezing of approximately USD 300,000, and the dismantling of a cluster of scam websites and registrar accounts. The investigation began in October 2024 after NYDFS identified a fake investment site displaying what appeared to be a BitLicense certificate and linked it to a wider network of domains and accounts. Investigators identified more than 300 victims and estimated losses of over USD 1 million in Brooklyn alone, with victims lured from Facebook into encrypted messaging apps and shown falsified account gains before being blocked from withdrawals and pressured to pay purported fees or taxes. Warrants resulted in the seizure of over 100 domains and 17 registrar accounts and cut off scammers’ access to web-based email, while NYDFS monitored blockchain activity to warn victims and prevent further transfers; Meta shut down more than 700 accounts tied to the “Black Hat” advertiser promoting the scam. The Attorney General’s work traced payments to “Black Hat” Facebook advertising services and obtained the order freezing roughly USD 300,000 in cryptocurrency accounts linked to those advertisers.

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