The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has uncovered a cyber fraud scheme orchestrated by suspected Nigerian scammers who impersonated the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, duping a political donor out of $250,300 in cryptocurrency.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia announced the case on Wednesday, revealing that a civil forfeiture complaint has been filed to recover $40,300 in USDT.ETH—a portion of the stolen funds successfully traced and frozen by federal authorities.
According to the complaint, the scammers posed as Steve Witkoff, Co-Chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, and contacted victims using a nearly identical email address to the committee’s official domain. Instead of “@t47inaugural.com,” the imposters used “@t47lnaugural.com,” swapping a lowercase “i” with an “L” to deceive the recipient.
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On December 24, 2024, the intended donor received the fraudulent email. Believing it was a genuine fundraising request, the victim sent $250,300 in USDT.ETH cryptocurrency two days later, on December 26, to a wallet address ending in “58c52,” as instructed by the scammers.
Within just two hours, the stolen funds were swiftly transferred through multiple crypto wallets to obscure their trail. However, the FBI’s blockchain analysts were able to trace $40,300 of the stolen amount and recover it for forfeiture.
“This case is another reminder of how impersonation scams exploit subtle tricks—like minor domain name alterations—to mislead victims,” said Steven J. Jensen, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office.
“Scams like this cost Americans billions each year. Always double-check email addresses and URLs, especially when large sums of money are involved. Never send money, gift cards, or crypto to anyone you do not know or haven’t met in person,” he warned.
Authorities are urging the public to report suspected internet fraud through the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.
