The U.S. DOJ has filed for a civil forfeiture to seize over $5 million in Bitcoin stolen via SIM swap attacks on five victims between October 2022 and March 2023.

According to the investigators, the stolen funds went through about 32 laundering transactions to hide their tracks before they finally landed at Stake.com.

A few hours ago, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint to take over more than $5 million in Bitcoin linked to SIM swap attacks against different victims across the country. According to the report shared by their official website, the United States Attorney,

Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced the launch of the move alongside the Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti and FBI Special Agent Brett D. Skiles of the Miami Field Office.

The Details of the $5 Million SIM Swap Hack

Based on the report shared, the stolen Bitcoin was stolen from five victims whose wallets were compromised between October 29, 2022, and March 21, 2023, basically at different times. The attackers were able to access the victims’ phones through SIM, and by accessing the phones, they managed to get security codes, impersonate the account owners, and then move the victims’ funds into their own wallets.

When investigations were carried out, the investigators found out that after each successful theft, the money was shifted to different wallets before ending up in one address connected to Stake.com, an online casino. Prosecutors claim the group of hackers tried to hide the origin of the Bitcoin by making repeated transfers between linked wallets.

Also Read: 7 Suspects Arrested by French Police Following Crypto Kidnap Attempt

So, from March 20 to March 22, 2023, there was a record of at least 32 transfers, which indirectly means the money was laundered. This is not the first major case of SIM swapping that has happened in recent times; in fact, there has been an outrageous record of the number of SIM swaps that have happened in recent times.

A report done by TransUnion ranked SIM swapping as the second-most common type of telco-based fraud that disrupts businesses in 2025. Earlier in June, two OKX users lost their cryptofunds after a fake SMS led them to create new API keys, giving hackers access to withdraw and trade their money.

Source: TransUnion

According to the founder of SlowMist, Yu Xian, he explained that the scheme relied on tricking users into granting hackers permissions. The exchange confirmed the hack, contacted affected clients, and began a review but has not yet shared the total losses or full details of the breach.

Also Read: XRP Stages a Strong Comeback: Will September Outshine August 2025?

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ September 11, 2025 12:30 pm