The only thing that changes in the scams perpetrated by thieves and fraudsters over time are the means and technologies used to rob the unwary of their money. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed yesterday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had seized over $112 million in digital assets associated with criminal conduct.
Judges in the District of Arizona, the Central District of California, and the District of Idaho reportedly approved the issuance of seizure warrants for six virtual currency accounts, according to the DOJ.
These cryptocurrency wallets allegedly served as a means of money laundering for cryptocurrency confidence frauds.
The trap comprised making online friends with people in order to gradually persuade them to invest in cryptocurrencies on fraudulent exchanges that had been constructed to resemble legitimate ones.
The platform presents the target as having made gains following a fictitious investment; occasionally, they are permitted to withdraw some money. Yet once trust has been built up and the biggest investments have been made, the trap is set. The fraudsters might even demand more money to pay taxes or other charges, which would then make the money retrievable.
Sadly for the targets, the money was transferred to accounts that belonged to the criminals and their henchmen. The different accounts were utilized to clean the digital assets.
According to the DOM, investment fraud cost the public $3.31 billion in losses in 2022, the most of any scam. Scams involving cryptocurrency increased by 183% from 2021 to $2.57 billion in 2022, making it the preferred method of financial fraud. Ages 30 to 49 made up the majority of the recorded victims.
The scams are usually referred to as “Sha Zhu Pan” or pig butchering in Chinese, according to the Feds.
According to the Criminal Division of the Justice Department’s Deputy Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr., these scams are often practiced by international criminal organizations that are tech-savvy.
These truly brutal frauds, in which con artists patiently build connections with their victims over decades, have destroyed families and robbed people of their life savings. We will work to quickly refund the virtual money to the victims now that we have taken it. In addition to our tireless efforts to foil these scams, we must also work to increase public awareness and assist in educating potential victims: be wary of people you meet online; seriously doubt investment advice, particularly regarding cryptocurrencies, from people you haven’t met in person; and keep in mind that investments that seem too good to be true typically are.
In addition to thanking people who were willing to come forward and alert the FBI, Director Eun Young Choi of the Criminal Division’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) stated that they will keep using all of their resources to shut down these scams.
Luis Quesada, assistant director of the FBI, said:
We continue to observe how these scams develop and open up new opportunities for criminals to profit. The FBI, together with our federal and international law enforcement partners, is steadfastly committed to looking into and going after criminal actors who attempt to mislead the American public. Our announcement from today should serve as a reminder of that commitment. No location is out of the FBI’s reach.
The Phoenix Division of the FBI is looking into this matter.
