Brooklyn prosecutors and the FBI have seized 112 servers and shut down 241 websites tied to an Eastern European cryptocurrency scam network that stole tens of millions of dollars from Americans, primarily Russian speakers, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday.

The operation ran last week. No arrests have been made.

The seized servers were hosted by companies in Eastern Europe and the United States, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. The office's Virtual Currency Unit worked alongside the FBI to uncover the network's infrastructure.

How did the scam work?

The network ran an elaborate investment scheme, then tried to squeeze victims a second time. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez laid out the pattern in a statement.

"These criminals stole many millions of dollars from Russian-speaking victims through an elaborate investment scheme, then tried to exploit them again with false promises to recover their money," Gonzalez said.

That second stage — fake recovery services targeting people already defrauded — is a known follow-on tactic in investment fraud. It compounds losses for victims who pay again in hopes of clawing back their money.

Why did seizing the servers matter?

The seizures targeted the operation's back end, not just its storefronts. Shutting down websites alone rarely works; scammers can stand up replacement domains within hours. Taking the servers cut that capability.

"We disabled the back end of the operation," Assistant District Attorney Alona Katz, who led the investigation, said, according to Bloomberg.

Katz's point gets at the operational logic of the takedown. Without the hosting infrastructure, the network can't spin up new fraudulent sites or keep contacting victims through its existing channels. That's the difference between a temporary disruption and a structural one — at least until the group rebuilds elsewhere.

The absence of arrests matters too. The network operated from Eastern Europe, outside easy US legal reach, so infrastructure seizure was the most direct enforcement lever available to Brooklyn prosecutors.

How big is crypto fraud in the US?

The takedown lands against a rising tide of crypto-related fraud nationwide. Americans reported $11.4 billion in crypto fraud losses in 2025, a 22% increase from the previous year, according to FBI figures cited by Bloomberg.

That growth rate outpaces most other fraud categories tracked by the bureau, and investment scams consistently rank among the costliest variants. Communities with language barriers — like the Russian-speaking Americans targeted here — are frequent focus areas for organized fraud groups, because trusted-language outreach lowers victim suspicion.

The Brooklyn District Attorney's creation of a dedicated Virtual Currency Unit reflects how local prosecutors now pursue crypto cases that once sat almost entirely with federal agencies. Gonzalez credited that unit and the FBI jointly for mapping the network.

What happens next?

The investigation remains open. With no arrests yet, US authorities will likely pursue charges or extradition requests if they identify operators, and the seized servers should yield evidence on victim lists, payment flows and accomplices. Expect law enforcement to keep leaning on infrastructure seizures as the primary tool against offshore crypto fraud networks through 2026.