Key Takeaways
- • The Brooklyn District Attorney's Virtual Currency Unit and the FBI's New York field office shut down 241 websites tied to a crypto fraud network based in Eastern Europe, according to Quartz citing Bloomberg.
- • Law enforcement seized 112 servers from hosting providers in Eastern Europe and the United States, disabling the network's back-end infrastructure and access to victim records.
- • The scheme stole tens of millions of dollars from Americans, with Russian-speaking residents of Brooklyn among the victims, many drawn in through Facebook ads pitching investment opportunities.
- • Americans reported $11.4 billion in cryptocurrency fraud losses in 2025, a 22% increase over the prior year, per FBI figures cited by Bloomberg.
- • The three-year investigation follows the unit's June 2024 seizure of 70 domains and brings its total to roughly 400 domains taken down or disrupted, excluding this operation.
Summary
The Brooklyn District Attorney's office and the FBI shut down 241 websites linked to a cryptocurrency fraud network based in Eastern Europe, capping a three-year investigation into a scheme that stole tens of millions of dollars from Americans, according to Quartz. The operation was executed last week and included the seizure of 112 servers belonging to the fraud group from hosting providers in Eastern Europe and the United States, per Bloomberg. Officials said the server seizures removed the scammers' access to victim records, the content powering their web domains, and the tools used to run the operation.
The operation was led by the Brooklyn DA's Virtual Currency Unit working alongside the FBI's New York field office. Investigators traced the network's cyber infrastructure and internet protocol addresses to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Russian-speaking residents of Brooklyn and other parts of the U.S. were among the victims, and investigators determined that a significant number had initially been drawn in through Facebook ads pitching investment opportunities.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the unit "identified the fraud, tracked down stolen cryptocurrency, was able to pinpoint the scammers and broke new ground by seizing the servers used by this crime syndicate." Assistant District Attorney Alona Katz, who leads the Virtual Currency Unit, said that by seizing the servers, "we disabled the back end of the operation." James Barnacle, head of the FBI's New York office, said the DA's office was "swift to involve our subject matter experts and together we got to the bottom of the plot."
Gonzalez created the Virtual Currency Unit in 2023 to address crypto fraud targeting Brooklyn's large Russian-speaking communities. A June 2024 action by Katz's team seized 70 web domains that scammers had used to drain $5 million from U.S. residents. Excluding last week's operation, the unit has taken down or disrupted 400 domains involved in crypto investment fraud.
The scale of the problem has grown considerably. According to FBI figures cited by Bloomberg, Americans reported $11.4 billion in cryptocurrency fraud losses in 2025, a 22% jump over the previous year, and more than 18,000 victims reported individual losses above $100,000.
The operation was led by the Brooklyn DA's Virtual Currency Unit working alongside the FBI's New York field office. Investigators traced the network's cyber infrastructure and internet protocol addresses to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Russian-speaking residents of Brooklyn and other parts of the U.S. were among the victims, and investigators determined that a significant number had initially been drawn in through Facebook ads pitching investment opportunities.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the unit "identified the fraud, tracked down stolen cryptocurrency, was able to pinpoint the scammers and broke new ground by seizing the servers used by this crime syndicate." Assistant District Attorney Alona Katz, who leads the Virtual Currency Unit, said that by seizing the servers, "we disabled the back end of the operation." James Barnacle, head of the FBI's New York office, said the DA's office was "swift to involve our subject matter experts and together we got to the bottom of the plot."
Gonzalez created the Virtual Currency Unit in 2023 to address crypto fraud targeting Brooklyn's large Russian-speaking communities. A June 2024 action by Katz's team seized 70 web domains that scammers had used to drain $5 million from U.S. residents. Excluding last week's operation, the unit has taken down or disrupted 400 domains involved in crypto investment fraud.
The scale of the problem has grown considerably. According to FBI figures cited by Bloomberg, Americans reported $11.4 billion in cryptocurrency fraud losses in 2025, a 22% jump over the previous year, and more than 18,000 victims reported individual losses above $100,000.
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