Brooklyn Prosecutors Pull the Plug on 241 Crypto Scam Sites, Servers Still Spinning 🍸

Federal and local authorities in Brooklyn have shut down 241 websites and seized 112 servers linked to an Eastern European cryptocurrency scam network accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars from Russian-speaking victims across the United States. The operation was carried out last week and announced on Wednesday by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the network ran an elaborate investment scheme to defraud victims out of many millions of dollars, then targeted them a second time with false promises to recover their losses. No arrests have been announced. The takedown targeted infrastructure hosted by companies in Eastern Europe and the United States, disrupting the operators' ability to spin up new sites and contact victims.

Assistant District Attorney Alona Katz, who led the investigation, told Bloomberg that seizing the servers was central to the operation because it disabled the back end of the scheme. Gonzalez credited the office's Virtual Currency Unit and the FBI with uncovering the network's infrastructure.

The action comes as cryptocurrency-related fraud continues to climb nationwide. Americans reported $11.4 billion in crypto fraud losses in 2025, a 22% increase from the previous year, according to FBI figures cited by Bloomberg. The Brooklyn case follows other large-scale enforcement actions, including the reported dismantling of a Chinese crime network that investigators said laundered more than $1 billion for the Lazarus Group, according to blockchain researcher ZachXBT.