DOJ Moves to Seize $200K in Tether From Tinder Crypto Scam
The Justice Department is hoping to claw back funds raised through an alleged cryptocurrency investment fraud in which the schemer impersonated a financial advisor and lured his victim through a dating app.
The Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office filed the civil forfeiture action this week to recover 200,000.039646 USDT (Tether), valued at about $200,000.
According to the DOJ and court documents, the fraud was a “pig butchering” scheme, defined as scammers building trust with victims through online communications before luring them to invest in a nefarious cryptocurrency scheme. Often, victims will make multiple investments before realizing they’re being scammed.
According to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Hannah Wong supporting the forfeiture request, in January 2025, the unnamed victim met a man on the dating app Tinder going by the name “Nino Martin.”
After matching on Tinder, Martin asked to move the conversation to WhatsApp and told the victim he was a financial advisor who could help them make money via crypto investments.
Martin instructed the victim to transfer funds to their Coinbase account and then to a separate platform called onechainnm.com, but the victim accidentally revealed to Martin that their bank account had a balance of about $500,000.
According to the affidavit, the victim transferred about $384,413 over several weeks to unhosted wallets they believed were on the platform Martin specified. They never met in person, with Martin giving numerous excuses, including that he had to fly to Florida to give a presentation.
In early March 2025, the investment platform changed its name to onechainiy.com, and around this time, the victim was restricted from their Coinbase accounts due to “sending suspicious transfers.”
Unknown individuals who claimed to be customer service from the investment platform allegedly then gave the victim a way to work around Coinbase and keep investing by wiring money from their bank account to account numbers they provided.
According to “customer service,” the victim could then keep investing, and they sent about $112,253 in additional funds over several days near the end of March. In April, the purported customer service agents claimed the victim owed an IRS tax of about $200,000, and the victim became suspicious and stopped sending money.
In total, the victim estimated they’d transferred about $504,353 to the so-called platforms, representing most of their savings. Wong speculated that the fraudsters spoofed the name of the crypto buzzword “Onchain,” which describes verified transactions on a blockchain. The crypto account allegedly connected to the scheme was seized last June.
Through the civil forfeiture action, the DOJ can attempt to seize the property or earnings if it’s suspected of being connected to criminal activity, even if the owner is never charged with a crime. The property’s owner can assert claims to it, which must be resolved before the U.S. can reclaim it and potentially return the funds to victims.
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