ORLANDO, Fla. – A state-of-the-art system designed to track stolen crypto funds is the latest asset being used by law enforcement agencies in the United States and across the globe in what has become a parallel economy for thieves.
The company, Token Relationship Management or TRM, has assisted police investigators as agencies work to recoup blockchain funds in the millions.
Former FBI investigator Kyle Armstrong, who joined TRM in April 2022, told News 6 the trail of cryptocurrency victims is endless.
“If you’re a victim and I’m a victim there’s somebody somewhere else in the world who is just being initiated in this fraud scheme,“ Armstrong told News 6. “The money moves quickly.”
The California-based company has about 150 employees operating across the U.S.
In a recent crime analysis dubbed Illicit Crypto, the company estimated $9 billion being wired to various accounts linked to investment and romance fraud schemes in 2022 alone, “with the large majority going to apparent Ponzi and/ or pyramid schemes.”
“It’s (cryptocurrency), great for international commerce,” Armstrong said. “But it’s also great for fraudsters who want to steal the money and immediately move it overseas at the speed of the internet and cash out.”
TRM provides various “searching tools” to identify funds in the tens of millions of dollars.
“Many times there are ongoing fraud cases,” Armstrong said, “where there’s a third victim being started down this road.”
One federal source told News 6 that the TRM tools are valuable in tracking crypto, bitcoin and Ethereum, all blockchain currencies used by thieves in various investment and romance schemes.
“The good guys need to stay in tune with what’s going on, and we’ll help them try to do that,” Armstrong said.
For more information on the TRM system go to TRMLABS.com.