On September 26th, 2023, the United States Attorney's Office seeks to recover cryptocurrency worth around $434,000, allegedly traceable to the perpetrators orchestrating a fraud scheme and participating in money laundering activities involving cryptocurrency; specifically 412,543.555 Tether (USDT) and 100.896 Binance Coin (BNB) according to a press release.
The scam in question, commonly referred to as a "pig-butchering" scheme, typically involves perpetrators manipulating victims by first establishing trust through online communication. Once trust is gained, victims are then deceived into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes.
In this specific case, after targeting a Massachusetts resident and striking an online relationship, the scammers, to entice the victim into their fraudulent investment scheme, flaunted seemingly lucrative investment opportunities. As alleged in court documents, the victim was persuaded to pour personal funds into a fake cryptocurrency investment platform. Tracing the cryptocurrency involved in wire fraud and money laundering eventually led law enforcement to seize the assets from two Binance accounts according to the same press release.
Federal law states it is a violation to use wire communications as part of a scheme to defraud or to obtain money or property through false or fraudulent pretenses. Furthermore, it is also a violation to attempt or conduct a financial transaction involving property which is known to represent the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, knowingly designed to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of those proceeds of unlawful activity.
This is the seventh civil forfeiture action ever filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office seeking to forfeit cryptocurrency linked to fraud schemes and money laundering activities targeting Massachusetts victims.
Members of the public who believe they are victims of cybercrimes, such as cryptocurrency scams, romance scams, investment scams, and pig-butchering schemes, can report the incident to the government authority.
