News 
December 18, 2024 
3 min. 
Bitcoin recent climb to a record high of over $107,000 has helped the US government in its efforts to reimburse victims of a business email compromise (BEC) scheme.
On December 16, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed it had recovered 32.68 BTC, worth over $3.5 million, from a cyber fraud case that took place in December 2023.
The recovery was the result of a joint investigation by the US Secret Service and the DOJ’s Asset Forfeiture Unit.
US Department of Justice (DOJ) Explains More on the Bitcoin Fraud Scheme
The fraud scheme The DOJ explained that the BTC was stolen through a BEC attack targeting a real estate company. Cybercriminals hacked into the company’s system and sent fake wire transfer instructions, stealing more than $1 million.
Further investigation uncovered that about ten other victims, including individuals and businesses, were targeted by similar scams. Their losses ranged from $75,000 to $425,000.
The stolen funds were laundered through several bank accounts, including ones run by money mules, before they were funneled into a single crypto wallet. This wallet was traced back to fraudsters in Nigeria.
When the 32.68 BTC was seized, it was valued at around $900,000. But thanks to Bitcoin’s recent surge, its value has skyrocketed to roughly $3.5 million, with Bitcoin trading at $107,262 at the time of the report.
Reimbursement plans Authorities believe that with Bitcoin’s price jump, they can fully reimburse all ten victims.
The US Attorney’s Office has filed a civil forfeiture case to recover the stolen assets and ensure the victims are compensated. US Attorney Tessa Gorman highlighted that civil forfeiture is an important tool for helping victims, even before the criminals are caught.
Bitcoin’s trading volume over the last 24 hours is $104.37 billion, marking a 1.3% increase from the previous day. This shows a boost in market activity recently. The highest price ever recorded for Bitcoin is $108,135, which happened on December 17, 2024, just about an hour ago. Currently, Bitcoin’s price is 1.46% lower than this all-time high. Bitcoin’s all-time low was $67.81, which was back on July 6, 2013, more than 11 years ago. Compared to today’s price, it’s up by an astounding 157,039.74%.
