Civil forfeiture
A court action against property itself, rather than a person, to take assets derived from or used in a crime. No criminal conviction is required, but the government must prove the link to crime in court.
The Justice Department says federal law has three types of forfeiture: criminal, civil judicial and administrative. In a civil judicial forfeiture the case is brought against property that was derived from or used to commit an offence, rather than against the person who committed it. The government is the plaintiff, the property is the defendant, and anyone who claims an interest in the property can join the case so that the court can resolve every claim at once.
Unlike criminal forfeiture, which is part of a defendant’s sentence after conviction, civil forfeiture requires no criminal conviction. The government must still prove in court, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the property was linked to criminal activity.
That is why it matters in scam cases: because the action is against the property, it can proceed without a conviction of the person. One stated goal of the Justice Department’s program is to recover assets that may be used to compensate victims when federal law allows. Whether you get anything back then depends on a separate step, called remission.
Where it shows up
- Romance scams · A relationship built to be spent, where the first request for money is small, urgent, and framed as a crisis.
- Fake investment platforms · A trading dashboard that shows everything except the one thing that matters; that no trade ever happened.
- Pig butchering · A months-long relationship built for one purpose: to get you onto a fake trading platform and keep you paying in.
Sources
- Types of Federal Forfeiture. US Department of Justice, Asset Forfeiture Program. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The three types of federal forfeiture, and the description of civil judicial forfeiture as an in rem proceeding with no conviction required.
- Asset Forfeiture Program. US Department of Justice, Asset Forfeiture Program. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: That one goal of the program is recovering assets that may be used to compensate victims.