FBI exposes 'fictitious' law firms conning crypto scam victims originally appeared on TheStreet .
On Aug. 13, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued an alert regarding fictitious law firms that target crypto scam victims through highly dangerous tactics.
Scammers have been impersonating law firms to reach out to victims of crypto scams and offer to help recover their stolen funds, the FBI highlighted. These scamsters employ a number of manipulative tactics, such as exploiting the emotional and financial vulnerability of the scam victims and giving a false sense of security by impersonating or affiliating themselves with U.S. and foreign government entities.
The most vulnerable sections of the society, the elderly in particular, are the easiest targets, the FBI highlighted.
The agency cautioned that these scammers impersonate actual lawyers and law firms, produce counterfeit documents, refer scam victims to a "crypto recovery law firm," and request payment in crypto or gift cards.
Oftentimes, these malicious actors have complete details of previous fraudulent transactions, which they use to gain the trust of the victims. They claim that a government-affiliated list of scam victims included the targeted person's name and they can legitimately recover stolen funds.
Once the victim is convinced, he is asked to register a new bank account, but then it later turns out that the website is a fraudulent platform to facilitate the fraud scheme.
Such actors often name-drop fictitious agencies such as the International Financial Trading Commission but refuse to appear on camera.
How to safeguard yourself against scammers
The FBI suggested a few measures one can take to ward off such scammers.
Trust nobody by default and always verify the credentials of a law firm by checking the law license. Cross-check affiliation with government agencies by reaching out to the local office to check if the concerned individual even works there. Always keep records of your interactions with such actors.
As per Chainalysis , over $2.17 billion had been stolen from cryptocurrency services this year until July 17.
FBI exposes 'fictitious' law firms conning crypto scam victims first appeared on TheStreet on Aug 14, 2025
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 14, 2025, where it first appeared.
