Law Enforcement Takes Down Hundreds of Sites Behind Crypto Scam Targeting Brooklyn's Russian Community

The Brooklyn District Attorney's office, working with the FBI, has seized or disrupted 241 web domains and 112 servers used in a cryptocurrency investment scam aimed at the Russian-speaking community in Brooklyn. Prosecutors say the tools were used to steal millions of dollars. Authorities were able to recover about $300,000.

The investigation began three years ago, when victims reported responding to Russian-language Facebook ads offering investment opportunities. An adviser then phoned them and guided them through setting up cryptocurrency accounts and transferring money. When victims tried to withdraw their funds, they were locked out and told to pay extra fees and taxes. Some of the fake websites imitated legitimate investment platforms and referenced U.S. government agencies or wealthy figures such as Elon Musk.

The seized servers held victim information, website data and operational software. They also showed a second scheme: scammers contacted victims weeks later and offered to recover the stolen cryptocurrency for a fee. Investigators traced infrastructure to Ukraine and several other Eastern European countries, where search warrants were executed. The DA's office has now disrupted about 400 domains linked to crypto investment fraud over two years, but new scam sites kept reappearing quickly. That led law enforcement to target the European backend servers powering them.