For the first time in its history, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) has successfully traced, seized, and returned funds lost to cryptocurrency scams during criminal investigations. Sheriff Rick Staly recently presented checks totaling over $4,600 to two local victims.
These recoveries are the result of two separate, months-long investigations led by Detective First Class John Hill of the FCSO Cyber Crimes Unit.
In December 2024, a victim reported being defrauded, having been persuaded by an unknown suspect to transfer money from a bitcoin account via CashApp. Cyber crimes detectives successfully tracked $612.71 of these funds to a Coinbase wallet and seized the fraudulent amount in April through a search warrant.
In January, another victim reported a different fraud incident. She received a fraudulent email purporting to be from PayPal, claiming she owed money. During a subsequent call, the suspect gained remote access to her computer and, feigning a refund error, convinced her to transfer $4,000 in bitcoin through a kiosk at a gas station. Detectives tracked these funds to an LBank Exchange wallet associated with an individual in India and seized them in May via a search warrant.
In both cases, Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols authorized the release of the seized funds back to their rightful owners. Sheriff Staly personally presented checks for $612.71 and $4,000 to the respective victims.
“Cryptocurrency scams are becoming very popular by criminals, and it is notoriously difficult to get that money back,” said Sheriff Staly. “This is one of the reasons we created the Cyber Crimes Unit and purchased the sophisticated financial software for the unit to use. Tracing, seizing, and returning the money stolen during these scams is a significant achievement by our Cyber Crimes Unit and especially Detective First Class Hill.”
Both investigations are ongoing, and no arrests have been made in either case. Sheriff Staly urged residents to educate themselves on cryptocurrency and other scams, advising vigilance against requests for personal information or money from unknown individuals.
Click here to learn more about cryptocurrency scams, including how to avoid and report them.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.