On Wednesday, October 14, 2026, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced that his office’s Virtual Currency Unit (VCU) had disrupted a multinational cryptocurrency fraud operation that preyed on Russian-speaking residents across the United States, in what his office described as one of the largest operational cyber disruptions ever carried out by a local prosecutor’s office.
Working with the FBI, investigators seized or disrupted 241 web domains and 112 servers tied to the scheme. Prosecutors said the contents of those systems confirmed that members of the Russian community in Brooklyn and across the country lost millions of dollars.
Officials estimate that tens of millions of dollars were stolen in total, with some victims losing their entire life savings. The District Attorney’s Office has so far recovered about $300,000 and is working to retrieve more.
The VCU spent three years investigating the organization, which relied on computer infrastructure and IP addresses in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Because Brooklyn has a large Russian population, prosecutors said, the scam affected the borough disproportionately compared with the rest of the country.
Last week, the unit executed numerous search warrants and took other enforcement actions across three time zones over several hours. Beyond the 241 fraudulent investment domains, investigators targeted a cluster of more than 100 cloud-based servers hosted by Eastern European and American companies. The takedown cut the scammers off from the data that powers their websites, their victim information, and their operational software.
The VCU had already seized or disrupted 400 domains linked to cryptocurrency investment fraud before last week’s action. Prosecutors said those seizures helped warn potential victims but did not stop the operation, as new fraudulent sites appeared quickly. Investigators then shifted to identifying the servers supporting the scam worldwide, a step officials said removes the group’s ability to rapidly create new websites and to contact existing victims.
The investigation began when the VCU identified a cluster of Russian-speaking victims in Brooklyn who described similar experiences. Each said they responded to a Russian-language Facebook advertisement for investment opportunities, then received a follow-up call from an “investment advisor” who spoke Russian.
The advisor coached them through creating an account on a cryptocurrency investment platform’s website and helped them buy cryptocurrency, which they transferred to addresses linked to the platforms. After investing for weeks or months, victims who tried to withdraw their money were locked out of their accounts or told they had to pay additional fees and taxes.
Data recovered during the investigation also showed that the group ran a second operation, a cryptocurrency recovery scam. Scammers contacted victims a few weeks after the initial fraud, promising they could retrieve the stolen assets.
“When scammers halfway around the world target Brooklyn residents, they should know they are not beyond our reach,” Gonzalez said. He added that his office would continue using every available tool to protect residents from increasingly sophisticated fraud, and he thanked the FBI for its partnership.
James C. Barnacle, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York office, said the case demonstrates what partnerships among state, local and international law enforcement can accomplish. He said the Kings County District Attorney’s Office moved quickly to bring in FBI subject matter experts, and he called on the public to continue reporting criminal activity.
Barnacle said the FBI will continue to support its partners with human and technological resources.
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