New York: In New York, the Brooklyn district attorney on Thursday reported a major blow against a cryptocurrency scam. Prosecutor Eric Gonzalez said his team was able to dismantle an operation that was defrauding people across the country out of millions of dollars. The prosecutor's office says the scammers targeted strangers through random text messages, dating websites, or other online chat groups, persuading them to invest in cryptocurrencies through fake websites and apps. The victims ended up losing their entire investment.

One of the victims claims she lost $118,000 to a scammer she met on a dating app. "He was trying to talk to me about crypto because I told him I was in the process of getting divorced... I felt like an idiot. Like I'm in a fall right now. I feel like if I could say to other women out there, to other victims: don't fall for this. Listen to your gut," the victim said. Investigators claim that one victim's investment was traced back to a foreign cryptocurrency exchange account and was withdrawn by an individual outside of U.S. jurisdiction.

The Brooklyn district attorney's office says they managed to seize more than a dozen web domains and three virtual servers associated with the scam operation. Gonzalez says he established a Virtual Currency Unit in the fall of 2023 after hearing from several Brooklynites who said they had fallen victim to cryptocurrency scams.

The DA's office says don't respond to text messages from strangers, don't make cryptocurrency investments based on advice from people you've never met, and never pay more money to try to recoup lost investments.