Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News
Indeed, it’s rare for fraud victims to recover their lost money, especially when scammers use cash or cryptocurrency, which can be hard to trace since the money can change hands quickly.
In 2023, the Bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 69,000 complaints from the public regarding financial fraud involving the use of cryptocurrency. Estimated losses with a nexus to cryptocurrency totaled more than $5.6 billion. Investigators in the Kansas case were heartened when a federal judge last November informed the failed bank’s owners that all was not lost.
“To be able to give them back their money is extremely powerful,” said Emilee Thompson, a forfeiture specialist for FBI Kansas City.
The courtroom erupted when the judge told victims at a November 4 restitution hearing in Wichita that the FBI recovered most of their money.
“There was cheering and clapping and crying because these people went from thinking they had lost $8.2 million to being made aware they were going to be made very near whole,” Special Agent Hemmert said.
He said it was particularly impactful to help folks in rural Southwest Kansas, whose opinions of the FBI vary widely.
“To live up to the reputation of the FBI and to show that we will do whatever we can—move heaven and earth if necessary—to do what we can to get their money back, that was cool,” he said. “To show these people and Elkhart that the FBI cares a great deal about victims and to do whatever we can to make them whole after they’ve been the victim of a crime.”