Rich by Coin

Federal authorities have filed a civil forfeiture action to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency after a Massachusetts resident was targeted in an investment fraud scheme. The scheme allegedly yielded 200,000.039646 of Tether cryptocurrency in proceeds, which currently have an estimated value of $200,000, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a press release. Authorities said they have been investigating the scheme since April 2025.

The resident allegedly matched with a person on Tinder who identified themselves as “Nino Martin,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Martin told the victim that he was a financial advisor who could help them make money by trading cryptocurrency and suggested that they communicate via WhatsApp. The victim then created an account and, allegedly under Martin’s instruction, transferred funds to a suspected fraudulent trading platform, federal prosecutors said.

When these transfers were flagged as suspicious, people from the trading platform contacted the victim and instructed them on how to evade restrictions on their account. Before they contacted law enforcement, the victim continued to transfer funds, with approximately $504,353 transferred in total, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Some of their funds were later traced to a cryptocurrency account that was seized in June 2025.

The type of plot that the victim allegedly fell for is known as a “pig-butchering” scheme, where scammers use manipulation and enticement to get funds from victims, prosecutors said. Scammers will convince victims to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes and steal the funds they invest, authorities said. Federal prosecutors have further noted that the perpetrators behind these investment schemes are frequently located overseas.

Investigators did not identify the alleged perpetrator but asserted that their actions constitute violations of multiple federal laws. However, prosecutors said that the civil forfeiture action was “one of several” that they had filed involving cryptocurrency traced to fraud schemes targeting Massachusetts victims.