DOJ files civil forfeiture action to recover $456,602 in USDT tied to romance scams

Federal prosecutors in Boston are going after crypto that scammers allegedly squeezed out of lonely hearts. The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts filed a civil forfeiture complaint on November 9, 2026, seeking $456,602 in USDT.

The funds are tied to a string of romance-and-investment scams that hit victims in Massachusetts, Ohio, and California. The scheme followed a familiar recipe: emotional connection first, financial devastation second.

How the scheme allegedly worked

The complaint, filed in federal court in Boston, connects the USDT to two seized crypto wallets. Those wallets were allegedly used to defraud three victims.

Victims were reportedly approached on a mix of platforms. These included GujaratiMatrimony.com, a matchmaking site, along with Facebook and RedNote, the social app also known as Xiaohongshu.

The people on the other end used aliases such as “Shreya Patel,” “Eric,” and “Lily.” Over an extended stretch, those personas built trust with their targets.

Then came the pivot. Once the relationship felt real, victims were nudged toward fraudulent investment platforms that displayed fake profits.

After victims deposited funds, the money was allegedly routed through a series of illicit wallets. It was ultimately laundered into USDT, which is the pile prosecutors now want to claw back.

One victim’s losses dwarf the recovery

The most striking figure in the case belongs to a victim from Norwood, Massachusetts. That person reported losses of approximately $1.89 million across 26 transactions.

Put that next to the $456,602 the government is pursuing, and the math is sobering. Even a successful forfeiture would cover only a portion of what this single victim says they lost, let alone the other two.

Part of a broader DOJ push

This filing does not stand alone. It continues a run of Justice Department actions in 2026 aimed at romance-linked investment fraud involving digital assets.

Back in March 2026, the DOJ pursued another case seeking 327,829.72 USDT tied to a Massachusetts individual in a similar scheme. The November complaint suggests that earlier effort was not a one-off.

These operations are widely known as “pig butchering” scams. The grim name comes from the method: scammers “fatten” a victim with attention and fake returns before taking everything.

Civil forfeiture is the legal tool doing the heavy lifting here. It lets the government go after the property itself, rather than the person who stole it. The process allows authorities to reclaim funds for victims without first securing a criminal conviction of the scammers.

When the alleged fraudsters hide behind names like “Lily” and “Eric,” a conviction can be a long shot. Suing the money directly sidesteps the problem of finding, identifying, and prosecuting the people behind it.