The US Department of Justice is fighting phantom cybercriminals.
The US Department of Justice has announced the return of a $2.3 million cryptocurrency linked to a Pig Butchering scam that affected at least 37 US residents.
During the investigation of one of these schemes in 2023, when a Massachusetts resident lost $400 thousand, the police tracked transfers of funds to 2 Binance wallets, which store approximately $2.3 million in cryptocurrency. Further investigation revealed that these funds were linked to 36 other victims from different parts of the United States who were caught in various fraudulent schemes of the same cybercriminal.
In January 2024, the authorities were able to recover the following amounts from two Binance accounts:
On average, each victim lost more than $62,000, which highlights the scale of damage and the profitability of such scams for cybercriminals. To avoid such situations, always verify the authenticity of investment platforms yourself and do not trust people with whom you communicate exclusively online.
The Pig Butchering scheme is a type of social engineering in which fraudsters establish trusting relationships with victims through social networks and instant messengers, then convince them to invest cryptocurrency in fake investment sites. On such sites, victims are shown false income, and the invested funds are actually sent to the wallets of criminals. Instead of real profits, victims are shown a virtual balance, supporting fraud.
The US Department of Justice has announced the return of a $2.3 million cryptocurrency linked to a Pig Butchering scam that affected at least 37 US residents.
During the investigation of one of these schemes in 2023, when a Massachusetts resident lost $400 thousand, the police tracked transfers of funds to 2 Binance wallets, which store approximately $2.3 million in cryptocurrency. Further investigation revealed that these funds were linked to 36 other victims from different parts of the United States who were caught in various fraudulent schemes of the same cybercriminal.
In January 2024, the authorities were able to recover the following amounts from two Binance accounts:
- 299 457 USD Coin (USDC);
- 1 455 305 Tether (USDT);
- 102 278 Tron (TRX);
- 3 032 Solana (SOL);
- 67 Binance Coin (BNB);
- 13 703 Cardano (ADA);
- 0,5 Ether (ETH).
On average, each victim lost more than $62,000, which highlights the scale of damage and the profitability of such scams for cybercriminals. To avoid such situations, always verify the authenticity of investment platforms yourself and do not trust people with whom you communicate exclusively online.
The Pig Butchering scheme is a type of social engineering in which fraudsters establish trusting relationships with victims through social networks and instant messengers, then convince them to invest cryptocurrency in fake investment sites. On such sites, victims are shown false income, and the invested funds are actually sent to the wallets of criminals. Instead of real profits, victims are shown a virtual balance, supporting fraud.
