Brooklyn prosecutors and the FBI have disrupted an Eastern European cryptocurrency scam network accused of taking tens of millions of dollars from Americans, with Russian-speaking people among its main targets.
The operation led to the shutdown of 241 websites and the seizure of 112 servers located at companies in Eastern Europe and the United States. No arrests were made. According to Cointelegraph, the action was conducted last week and announced on Wednesday by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
How the operation worked
Investigators said the websites were linked to an elaborate investment-fraud operation. The network allegedly persuaded victims to hand over money through cryptocurrency-related investment schemes and then targeted some of the same people again with supposed offers to recover their losses.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the criminals had taken “many millions of dollars” from Russian-speaking victims. He also said the investigation was led by the office’s Virtual Currency Unit together with the FBI, which traced the infrastructure supporting the operation.
The seized servers were central to the authorities’ action. Rather than only removing individual websites, investigators targeted the systems that allowed the network to run multiple domains and communicate with potential victims. Assistant District Attorney Alona Katz, who led the investigation, said the authorities had disabled the operation’s “back end,” according to Bloomberg.
The seizure affected servers hosted both in the United States and in Eastern Europe. The source material did not identify the operators or provide a breakdown of the alleged losses by victim or country.
Why the case matters
The investigation comes as cryptocurrency-related fraud remains a significant problem in the United States. Americans reported $11.4 billion in crypto-fraud losses during 2025, according to FBI figures cited by Bloomberg. That total represented a 22% increase from the previous year.
Crypto investment scams commonly use websites, online messages and claims of unusually attractive opportunities to solicit funds. In this case, prosecutors said the alleged network also used a recovery-fraud tactic: after victims lost money, they were approached with false promises that their funds could be retrieved. This type of approach can expose people to a second alleged financial loss.
The Brooklyn action shows the role of digital infrastructure in such investigations. By taking control of servers and shutting down domains, authorities sought to prevent the network from creating new websites and contacting additional victims. The operation, however, has not resulted in arrests as of the announcement.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at the stated times showed the following cryptocurrency prices and performance:
- Chainlink (LINK): $12.4942880201, up 0.85% over 24 hours and down 1.22% over seven days, as of October 15, 2026, at 21:19 +03:30.
- Mantle (MNT): $0.5279662542, up 1.05% over 24 hours and down 4.93% over seven days, as of October 15, 2026, at 21:18 +03:30.
- Sei (SEI): $0.0622076096, up 0.11% over 24 hours and down 6.92% over seven days, as of October 15, 2026, at 21:18 +03:30.
- Ethereum Name Service (ENS): $5.7616245266, up 0.2% over 24 hours and down 7.56% over seven days, as of October 15, 2026, at 21:19 +03:30.
