US Prosecutors Secure Wins In Crypto Pig Butchering Cases

According to Cointelegraph, United States prosecutors have achieved significant victories in two separate cases involving crypto pig butchering scams this week. In one case, nearly $5 million worth of Tether (USDT) was seized, and in another, a former bank CEO was sentenced to over 24 years in prison. On August 22, the US District Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced the seizure of the funds, which were traced to crypto addresses allegedly linked to laundering proceeds from pig butchering scams. US Attorney Michael Easley highlighted the severe impact of these scams, noting that Americans are losing their life savings as funds are rapidly transferred to overseas crypto accounts. He cited a case where one victim lost his entire individual retirement account to a scam. Pig butchering scams involve scammers building online relationships with victims, who are then lured into investing in fraudulent projects, resulting in financial losses. In this instance, cybercriminals approached victims under the guise of a romantic relationship to gain their trust before enticing them to invest in a fictitious crypto trading platform. Federal agents and FBI analysts successfully traced the victim’s funds through various crypto wallets, which were then seized with assistance from Tether. In another case, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas reported on August 19 that Shan Hanes, the former CEO of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, Kansas, was sentenced to over 24 years in prison. Hanes pleaded guilty to embezzling $47.1 million from the bank through 11 wire transfers to crypto wallets between May and July 2023. Although he was a victim of a pig butchering scheme, he embezzled money from a local church, an investment club, and even his daughter’s college savings account to fund the scheme. The funds were transferred to purportedly buy more crypto as the scammers insisted they needed it to unlock his supposed returns. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured the bank, absorbing the $47.1 million loss. However, Hanes’ fraudulent actions caused the bank to fail and resulted in investor losses of $9 million. Additionally, on August 21, a security professional posted a warning about a scam involving an Asian woman familiar with crypto trading. She reportedly lures victims into racking up profits on a spurious crypto platform before charging them a 15% withdrawal fee. This is just one example of the numerous pig butchering scams that have proliferated on social media and dating platforms.