Federal Prosecutors Seek to Recover $200K in Tinder Crypto Scam

Federal prosecutors have filed a civil forfeiture action to recover approximately $200,000 in cryptocurrency proceeds linked to a Massachusetts resident's investment fraud scheme.

In a press release, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts said the scheme allegedly netted about 200,000.039646 in Tether cryptocurrency. Authorities said they have been investigating the scheme since April 2025.

According to a Boston.com report, an individual identifying as “Nino Martin” lured a victim on Tinder, then moved conversations to WhatsApp. The person claimed to be a financial advisor who could generate crypto profits.

Federal prosecutors said that the victim created an account and, allegedly under Martin's directions, transferred funds to a suspected fraudulent trading platform. When these transfers were flagged as suspicious, representatives from the trading platform contacted the victim and instructed the individual about how to bypass restrictions on the account.

Before contacting law enforcement, the victim continued transferring funds. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the victim transferred approximately $504,353. Some of these funds were later traced to a cryptocurrency account seized in June 2025.

The operation is described as a pig-butchering scam, where perpetrators manipulate victims into investing in fraudulent crypto schemes and then steal the funds.

According to a Cryptopolitan report, the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to seize and recover most of these funds. The DOJ can seize property or earnings if authorities determine they are tied to criminal activity.

Authorities note that perpetrators are frequently overseas and that the civil action is part of a wider pattern of crypto-enabled fraud traced to Massachusetts victims.