Lake Mary resident sends $420K in cryptocurrency to fake law enforcement in scam

A Central Florida resident was swindled out of $420,000 in a bizarre scheme where fraudsters impersonated federal law enforcement and claimed that innocent people were under investigation for international money laundering, according to court records.

The federal government filed a complaint in the Middle District of Florida last week to seize back some of the money dumped into cryptocurrency from the multimillion-dollar fraud that also ensnared a pair of Oregon residents.

“Over the past few years, individuals and businesses, domestically and internationally, have seen a drastic increase in victimization associated with fraud schemes that are commonly referred to as Law Enforcement Officer Impersonation Scams,” the federal complaint said.

“The suspects then employ urgent threats to instill fear and deceive victims into believing they have a warrant for their arrest or are suspected of being linked to organized crime. The sole purpose is to convince the victim to wire money to a subject-controlled bank account or, in some cases, send funds to a cryptocurrency address.”

The fraud began in January 2025 when a Lake Mary resident got a phone call from a group of so-called officials from the United States Postal Inspection Service, the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

These “authorities” gave startling news: The Lake Mary resident was “being investigated for a connection to organized crime and international money laundering,” according to the federal complaint.

The fake authorities kept texting and calling the Lake Mary resident, who saw an official-looking letter from the DOJ that appeared to be a federal arrest warrant. The document contained the Lake Mary resident’s name and Social Security number, so it seemed official.

Everything about the scheme was fake — the letter, the officials, even their eagerness to keep texting, according to the complaint.

“The law enforcement officer impersonators stressed to Victim 1 if they did not comply and provide a detailed list of their financial assets for a ‘forensic analysis,’ all of Victim 1’s financial assets would be frozen and seized by the federal government, and Victim 1 would be arrested,” the federal complaint said.

The Lake Mary resident sent over a list with bank account information, and the fraudsters instructed the resident to create a cryptocurrency account and deposit money from the resident’s bank account for “forensic analysis,” the complaint said.

They promised to return the money when the investigation was over.

They never did.

Later, the Lake Mary resident contacted the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office to find out the status of the “forensic analysis” when the real authorities told the resident there was no money laundering investigation nor imminent federal arrest warrant.

The resident realized everything was a scam, the complaint said.

The complaint does not give details on the Lake Mary resident’s age or gender.

The $420,000 was quickly transferred around accounts, and authorities realized there were two other victims in the case from Oregon. One person lost $1.9 million while the other gave nearly $5.6 million after they were fed similar stories of how they were under federal investigation.

The DOJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the Middle District of Florida to obtain nearly $1.5 million left in a cryptocurrency account tied to the scheme.

The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.