{"id":2774,"date":"2022-03-21T18:56:03","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T18:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=2774"},"modified":"2022-03-21T18:56:04","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T18:56:04","slug":"us-justice-department-returns-stolen-bitcoin-to-victim-of-government-imposter-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=2774","title":{"rendered":"US Justice Department Returns Stolen Bitcoin to Victim of Government Imposter Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"crypto\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>The U.S. Justice Department has seized bitcoin stolen from an elderly man in a government imposter scam and will be returning the cryptocurrency to him. \u201cThe fraudsters deceived the victim into believing his personal information had been used to facilitate a drug trafficking and money laundering scheme,\u201d detailed the DOJ.<br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>DOJ Returns Bitcoin Stolen From Elderly Victim<\/h2>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday \u201cthe successful forfeiture and return of stolen cryptocurrency to [an] elderly man victimized by government imposter scam.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ explained that in August last year, fraudsters contacted the victim by phone claiming to be with the Office of the Inspector General, adding:<\/p>\n<p>The fraudsters deceived the victim into believing his personal information had been used to facilitate a drug trafficking and money laundering scheme, and as a result all of the victim\u2019s assets would be frozen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the imposters, who identified himself as agent James Hoffman, told the victim that he was required to deposit funds into a secure government account until the government verified that the victim was not involved in criminal activity,\u201d said the Justice Department.<\/p>\n<p>The scammers further demanded all of the victim\u2019s personal identifying information and details regarding his financial accounts, the DOJ noted.<\/p>\n<p>They proceeded to direct the victim to \u201cuse hundreds of thousands of dollars of his retirement funds\u201d to purchase bitcoin through cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.<\/p>\n<p>According to the DOJ:<\/p>\n<p>On August 31, 2021, 12.164699 bitcoin, worth approximately $574,766, was transferred from the victim\u2019s Coinbase account to the account controlled by the imposters.<\/p>\n<p>The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Coinbase ultimately identified the transfer as possible elder financial fraud. \u201cFollowing an investigation and successful civil forfeiture proceedings, the seized cryptocurrency was forfeited to the United States and will be returned to the victim,\u201d the Justice Department confirmed.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>What do you think about this case? Let us know in the comments section below.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Kevin Helms <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body__author__info__about\">\nA student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.<\/p>\n<p><i class=\"td-icon-font td-icon-mail-1\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"images_credits\"><em>Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Disclaimer<\/strong>: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.<\/p>\n<p>More Popular NewsIn Case You Missed It<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"bitcoin\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/us-justice-department-returns-stolen-bitcoin-to-victim-of-government-imposter-scam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Justice Department has seized bitcoin stolen from an elderly man in a government imposter scam and will be returning the cryptocurrency to him. \u201cThe fraudsters deceived the victim into believing his personal information had been used to facilitate a drug trafficking and money laundering scheme,\u201d detailed the DOJ. DOJ Returns Bitcoin Stolen From [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2776,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774\/revisions\/2776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}