Case Studies

Real-world recoveries handled by our blockchain forensics team

CASE STUDY 1: Recovery of $82,500 USDT Lost to a Fake Investment Platform

Date of Incident: Mar 14, 2025 Client: London, UK Date Recovered: Mar 28, 2025

In March 2025, a 42-year-old client from London reported losing $82,500 USDT after falling for a fake “crypto investment doubling platform” promoted via Instagram. The scammer convinced the victim to deposit funds into a Tron-based USDT address and then blocked the client once the transfer was completed.

Investigation & Recovery Process:

On March 15, 2025, Evelyn Hart began tracing the USDT through multiple TRC-20 wallet hops. Using advanced tracing tools and CEX deposit tagging, she identified consolidation into a Binance custodial wallet.

On March 18, 2025, Jonathan Miller collected OSINT data linking the scammer’s Telegram username to a real identity. Evidence was submitted to Binance, which froze the wallet on March 23, 2025.

Outcome:

$78,430 USDT was successfully returned to the client on March 28, 2025 after Binance’s KYC verification.

CASE STUDY 2: $14,200 ETH Retrieved Through Smart Contract Exploit Reversal

Date of Incident: Jan 5, 2025 Client: Dubai, UAE Date Recovered: Jan 9, 2025

A Dubai-based NFT creator lost 4.38 ETH after interacting with a malicious NFT minting link. The link triggered a signature drain, granting the scammer approval to move assets.

Investigation & Recovery Process:

On January 6, 2025, Bradley Turner analyzed the malicious contract and created a counter-contract to revoke approvals. Evelyn Hart traced the scam wallet for transaction evidence. By January 8, Bradley’s recovery script retrieved 3.91 ETH to a new wallet.

Outcome:

3.91 ETH (89.3% of stolen funds) was recovered and returned to the client on January 9, 2025.

CASE STUDY 3: Crypto Romance Scam Funds Frozen & Returned via Court Order

Date of Incident: Sep 2, 2024 Client: Toronto, Canada Date Recovered: Dec 3, 2024

A 31-year-old woman was deceived in a 2-month romance scam, losing $51,000 in BTC and USDT to a fake “joint investment” exchange.

Investigation & Recovery Process:

Samantha Hayes led client interviews and data collection. Jonathan Miller traced the scammer’s activity, linking them to a known fraud ring. The stolen funds were tracked to KuCoin and mixed through several accounts.

With proper evidence, a court preservation order was issued compelling KuCoin to cooperate.

Outcome:

$44,700 was returned to the client after compliance verification. A criminal case was opened against the scammer.