Justice Department Seizes $61 Million Worth of Tether from Pig Butchering Crypto

[Dave1]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/us-attorneys-office-ednc-announces-seizure-61-million-dollars-worth-cryptocurrency

I guess it just shows that criminals are not that smart to used crypto to hide everything. To be honest, they can't really cover their tracks here as they uses a crypto that can be frozen anytime or again, can easily be followed by blockchain analysis.

So this is a trans national group and obviously organize, but still they can't get away from the government.

[_act_]

So this is a trans national group and obviously organize, but still they can't get away from the government.

Pig butchering scam group are different from hackers group like Lazarus. A scammer may be excellent and know how to scam but the scammer may be smart like hackers. There are scammers that does not know simple exchange of crypto to fiat and fiat to crypto but they can be good in romance scam.

[Majestic-milf]

So this is a trans national group and obviously organize, but still they can't get away from the government.

Pig butchering scam group are different from hackers group like Lazarus. A scammer may be excellent and know how to scam but the scammer may be smart like hackers. There are scammers that does not know simple exchange of crypto to fiat and fiat to crypto but they can be good in romance scam.

You're right. You know, when people hear that doing business transactions in crypto ensures privacy and your fund may not be traced, they feel it ends there and don't bother themselves further. It's not all scammers that know how the Blockchain works, as long as the money is coming to them, they are okay and this incidence here is proof of it.

[Z-tight]

This is just another reminder that if you store or hold usdt even in your own wallet, it can be frozen and taken from you. That's why i always recommend that people do not hold usdt for the long term, it is centralized and the issuers can freeze it anytime.

However, in this case the seizure was for a good purpose, as funds were recovered from criminals. Though i do not have my hopes high that any of this money will get back to the victims, the government would surely keep it for themselves.

[Dave1]

So this is a trans national group and obviously organize, but still they can't get away from the government.

Pig butchering scam group are different from hackers group like Lazarus. A scammer may be excellent and know how to scam but the scammer may be smart like hackers. There are scammers that does not know simple exchange of crypto to fiat and fiat to crypto but they can be good in romance scam.

It doesn't matter, they still operate on the same principle, stealing people's crypto so there's not much of a difference in my opinion. Even those so called hackers are not that smart because some of them have been caught as well.

And just one mistake from this criminals, they are going to be caught by the authorities. Although, it's going to be a long battle as cyber criminals are growing in numbers are it is a very lucrative business for them.

[SuperBitMan]

So this is a trans national group and obviously organize, but still they can't get away from the government.

Pig butchering scam group are different from hackers group like Lazarus. A scammer may be excellent and know how to scam but the scammer may be smart like hackers. There are scammers that does not know simple exchange of crypto to fiat and fiat to crypto but they can be good in romance scam.

It doesn't matter, they still operate on the same principle, stealing people's crypto so there's not much of a difference in my opinion. Even those so called hackers are not that smart because some of them have been caught as well.

And just one mistake from this criminals, they are going to be caught by the authorities. Although, it's going to be a long battle as cyber criminals are growing in numbers are it is a very lucrative business for them.

One thing you all should understand is that some of this scams or hackers you see being caught by the authorities, a lot of them were caught because they decided to live a lavish lifestyle, they buy a lot of expensive things that ordinary they can’t afford, this is mostly how they draw the attention of the authorities to themselves and when the authorities start some investigation on them and visit their home they find evidence of them being involved in crypto scam or hacking, I have seen a lot of stories that crypto scammers or hackers are caught this way.
In the United States most catch you see are usually done this way.

Hackers and scammers operate differently, hackers group are more smarter when it comes to hide themselves and deleting any trace and that is why they hardly get caught the way scammers group get caught easily.
Hackers group has more crypto knowledge than scammers group.

[YOSHIE]

So this is a trans national group and obviously organize, but still they can't get away from the government.

I see that in the last few years (the FBI) ​​and also the department of justice have revealed a lot from investigations in various cases about cryptocurrency fraud schemes, especially Bitcoin, which were carried out illegally, by analyzing "blockchain" transactions.

With the various cases that have been successfully carried out by the US authorities, this proves one of the safe signs for crypto users against fraudulent acts with the existence of a distributed public ledger and which is run through a decentralized computer network, investigators can easilygetting suspicious and illegal transactions, for me this is one of the important points legally where the US government has mastered certain areas in the crypto sector by utilizing blockchain technology.

[zasad@]

This is a classic scam used by scammers from Myanmar and similar call centers. The scammers flaunt their affluent lifestyle on social media and lure gullible newcomers to fake exchanges. I read that one small fraudulent call center makes $30-60 million a month, and there are hundreds of them in Myanmar alone. Compare the number of scams with the number of seizures.

[cr1776]

This is just another reminder that if you store or hold usdt even in your own wallet, it can be frozen and taken from you. That's why i always recommend that people do not hold usdt for the long term, it is centralized and the issuers can freeze it anytime.

However, in this case the seizure was for a good purpose, as funds were recovered from criminals. Though i do not have my hopes high that any of this money will get back to the victims, the government would surely keep it for themselves.

Yeah, anything held in a centralized form is at risk. However I have no sympathy for these guys!  lol

[hopenotlate]

So this is a trans national group and obviously organize, but still they can't get away from the government.

Pig butchering scam group are different from hackers group like Lazarus. A scammer may be excellent and know how to scam but the scammer may be smart like hackers. There are scammers that does not know simple exchange of crypto to fiat and fiat to crypto but they can be good in romance scam.

You're right. You know, when people hear that doing business transactions in crypto ensures privacy and your fund may not be traced, they feel it ends there and don't bother themselves further. It's not all scammers that know how the Blockchain works, as long as the money is coming to them, they are okay and this incidence here is proof of it.

Anyway as far as I can read in the article linked government authorities were able to seize the money but there is no informations about them beng able to identify the scammers so despite not being as skilled as Lazarous group they also weren't so unprepared enough to get caught.

[zasad@]

So this is a trans national group and obviously organize, but still they can't get away from the government.

Pig butchering scam group are different from hackers group like Lazarus. A scammer may be excellent and know how to scam but the scammer may be smart like hackers. There are scammers that does not know simple exchange of crypto to fiat and fiat to crypto but they can be good in romance scam.

You're right. You know, when people hear that doing business transactions in crypto ensures privacy and your fund may not be traced, they feel it ends there and don't bother themselves further. It's not all scammers that know how the Blockchain works, as long as the money is coming to them, they are okay and this incidence here is proof of it.

Anyway as far as I can read in the article linked government authorities were able to seize the money but there is no informations about them beng able to identify the scammers so despite not being as skilled as Lazarous group they also weren't so unprepared enough to get caught.

I don't think Lazarus deals with such trivial matters. Governments always lose in fraud cases. I don't have the statistics, but for every $100 stolen, probably less than $1 is recovered. It's very difficult to combat international fraud, especially in centers like Myanmar.

[Z-tight]

Yeah, anything held in a centralized form is at risk. However I have no sympathy for these guys!  lol

Yeah, i have zero sympathy for criminals, they stole the funds, and then it was 'stolen' back, lol. The point is just the ability the company has to freeze and recover funds from anyone, even when those funds are in your own wallet. That should worry every user who has usdt stored in their wallet, even if they received those funds legitimately and are not into anything illicit. The idea that your funds aren't actually yours should worry you.

[Alpha Marine]

And just one mistake from this criminals, they are going to be caught by the authorities.

I guess that is one good thing about Bitcoin and crypto. Since everything is public, all the authorities need is just one simple link that will look like an address or transaction to a person an they will take it from there. Even if it's not centralised coins like USDT that can be frosen in your address.
It's funny that people tried to paint Bitcoin and crypto as a criminal's paradise. People that get away often with crimes of fraud in crypto are usually people who stole relatively small amount that it's not worth pursuing by the authorities. If it's a big amount, like the one in the OP, they will keep pursuing and when they set their eyes on you, it's only a matter of time.
It's easier to get away with fraud in fiat, than it in crypto. I'm glad the narrative of Bitcoin being for criminals is gradually dying a slow death.

[Z-tight]

Since everything is public, all the authorities need is just one simple link that will look like an address or transaction to a person an they will take it from there.

So many hackers get away with what they stole. They already know how to obfuscate the traces of the coins they stole, even before stealing it, so they just execute their premeditated plan. My point is, authorities do not recover all stolen funds, they only recover funds from criminals who aren't skilled in hiding their traces or those who store it in centralized coins that can be frozen, even in their own wallet.

It's easier to get away with fraud in fiat, than it in crypto.

If it is cash, yes. If it is any online payment system, then no.

[FinneysTrueVision]

If you are dumb enough to keep millions of dollars you scammed in a centralized stablecoin, then you really deserve to have your funds frozen. The people who work in pig butchering operations are essentially held in slavery, which is why China has started punishing leaders of these organizations with the death penalty.

Seizing their money only works as long as they keep using Tether, but this will not always be the case, which is why the Chinese approach is a more effective deterrent. Other governments in Asia also have to take the matter seriously and not allow these syndicates to murder, extort, and traffic humans with impunity.

[Z-tight]

If you are dumb enough to keep millions of dollars you scammed in a centralized stablecoin,

I like to believe that a lot of scammers do not know too much about crypto. It is obvious these scammers didn't know that Tether can be frozen, in any wallet, even theirs. Good thing they didn't know i guess.

The people who work in pig butchering operations are essentially held in slavery, which is why China has started punishing leaders of these organizations with the death penalty.

Yeah, it is a terrible situation for anyone to be in. The authorities usually dismantle syndicates like these, but the numbers are enormous. So i think a strong deterrent like this is a good development.

[Oluwa-btc]

This is just another reminder that if you store or hold usdt even in your own wallet, it can be frozen and taken from you. That's why i always recommend that people do not hold usdt for the long term, it is centralized and the issuers can freeze it anytime.

However, in this case the seizure was for a good purpose, as funds were recovered from criminals. Though i do not have my hopes high that any of this money will get back to the victims, the government would surely keep it for themselves.

Glad they were able to gave these coins seized but those Ponzi Schemes moving with people's bitcoin are yet to be recovered. I get what you mean, there's a higher chance of Usdt being recovered and confiscated over bitcoin. Most especially those affected when Novatech stopped withdrawals and literally moved with their money bought in bitcoin.
These government officials are complicit, they are crooked in so many ways bit there's been a few given back to victims. Most of this victims are targeted back in a billion ways and the Department of Justice do not carry out enough awareness to block them from further occurrence.

[Dave1]

If you are dumb enough to keep millions of dollars you scammed in a centralized stablecoin, then you really deserve to have your funds frozen. The people who work in pig butchering operations are essentially held in slavery, which is why China has started punishing leaders of these organizations with the death penalty.

To be fair, China has very tough law and it doesn't discriminate criminals. Even high ranking officials that involves in corruption are being punished with death penalty. But it can't be said to other Asian nation.

Seizing their money only works as long as they keep using Tether, but this will not always be the case, which is why the Chinese approach is a more effective deterrent. Other governments in Asia also have to take the matter seriously and not allow these syndicates to murder, extort, and traffic humans with impunity.

For sure there will be more criminals popping around after this bust and might not used Tether. But if they think that they can outsmart the government, they might be wrong as they could still be trace by authorities. So let's see how this cat and mouse game will end.

Pig butchering is really coming up to the top of scams in Asia and other parts of the world.