For once we see a crypto scam story with a good ending. Through the combined efforts of the FBI and Coinbase, an elderly man scammed out of over $500,000 in BTC now is seeing his life savngs returned to him:

US Authorities to Return Over $500,000 Worth of Bitcoin to a Conned Elderly Person

US Attorney Dena J. King announced that law enforcement seized $547,000 worth of bitcoin from a criminal who conned an elderly person last year. The officials will return all funds to the victim.

Cracking Down a Crypto Scam
In its latest efforts to fight fraudulent activities involving cryptocurrencies, American officials confiscated more than $500,000 in bitcoin from a criminal. The latter drained the funds from an elderly Ashville resident last year, as the sum represented his retirement savings.

According to a recent announcement by the United States Department of Justice, the scammer deceived the victim that his personal data had been used to facilitate illicit operations such as drug trafficking and money laundering. The fraudster, who identified himself as Agent James Hoffman, told the man to deposit funds into a “secure” government account to protect himself.

Later on, the criminal advised the victim to purchase bitcoin through Coinbase’s application and transfer the crypto assets into the aforementioned account. The conned person used all his retirement savings, equaling around $547,000, to buy a little over 12 BTC.

Fortunately for him, Coinbase and the FBI launched an investigation and identified the scam.

In the aftermath, US Attorney Dena J. King ruled that the funds must be seized from the criminal and returned to the victim. The court official praised the joint efforts of the FBI and Coinbase. She also noted that crypto scams usually do not have such a happy end for victims:

“Government imposter scams are pervasive and can be financially and psychologically devastating for those who fall prey. Thankfully, in this instance, the fraud was detected quickly, and the stolen funds will be returned to the victim. Unfortunately, the majority of these cases do not share a similar ending.”

Full article here:  https://cryptopotato.com/us-authorities-to-return-over-500000-worth-of-bitcoin-to-a-conned-elderly-person/