The United States Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts has commenced legal proceedings to recover cryptocurrency associated with the “pig butchering” scheme, which targeted a Massachusetts resident and 36 others.
On March 13, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a civil forfeiture action to reclaim $2.3 million worth of various cryptocurrencies, including USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL), from online scams and fraud victims.
A civil forfeiture action is a legal process where law enforcement agencies seize assets suspected of being involved in illegal activities, treating the assets themselves as defendants in legal proceedings rather than individuals.
The cryptocurrencies, comprising nearly 300,000 USDC, 1.5 million USDT, 102,000 Tron (TRX), 3,000 SOL, and 14,000 Cardano (ADA), were confiscated from two Binance accounts in January following an investigation into the “pig butchering” scam targeting a Massachusetts resident.
“Pig butchering” is a fraudulent technique where scammers gain trust online, persuade victims to invest in a crypto scheme, and defraud them. U.S. regulators have cautioned investors about this tactic and have taken legal action against perpetrators.
Authorities began probing the scheme in spring 2023, seizing cryptocurrency linked to funds from 37 victims, including the Massachusetts resident. The victim was deceived into wiring $400,000 to the scammers, who then transferred the funds to wallets connected to the other victims.
This action by the U.S. Attorney’s Office follows the recent seizure of $1.4 million in Tether by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago from an unhosted virtual cryptocurrency wallet involved in a suspected tech support scam targeting the elderly.
Tether cooperated in the asset recovery process, redirecting the funds from the accused fraudsters to alternative wallets under government supervision for restitution to the victims.
In January, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged digital asset platform Debiex with fraud for using “pig butchering” to defraud investors of $2.3 million. Additionally, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a warning about “pig butchering” scams late last year.
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