A cease-and-desist order has been issued by the Delaware Department of Justice’s Investor Protection Unit against 23 organisations and people involved in “pig butchering,” a well-known cryptocurrency fraud. Additionally, the ruling blocks the accounts that are purportedly holding the victims’ bitcoins.
Scams involving pig butchering have become dramatically in popularity recently. The Delaware DOJ explained that victims of this kind of scam “are groomed over time to make cryptocurrency transactions, only to realise that what they thought was a safe investment actually a hoax.” The term “butchering” refers to the behaviour of scammers who “fatten” their victims before stealing their possessions.
The Investor Protection Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice (DOJ) has “issued a summary order to cease and desist against 23 entities and individuals involved in a cryptocurrency scam known as the ‘pig butchering scam,’” according to an announcement made by the state’s attorney general, Kathy Jennings, on Wednesday.
Attorney General Jennings emphasised that “it might be difficult to retrieve those assets when victims lose money through cryptocurrency frauds, including the pig butchering scam,” adding:
The notice states that concerns from state residents were sent to the Investor Protection Unit. They described how unidentified individuals approached them online and encouraged them to invest in cryptocurrencies. After showing them significant profits on their initial investments, the con artists persuaded them to invest more.
By blocking assets that are at risk of being transferred by the wrongdoers in the future, today’s order takes a first step toward defending Delaware investors from the pig slaughtering scam.
The Delaware DOJ issued a warning, however: “In the end, they were never able to withdraw the money, and their Bitcoin vanished. According to estimates, this nationwide scam has thousands of victims and has caused billions of dollars in losses.
The Investor Protection Unit tracked cryptocurrency belonging to two Delaware complainants to numerous wallets on multiple crypto exchanges by collaborating with a data analytics firm, the authority said.
The Delaware Justice Department noted: “The cease and desist injunction forbids anyone or any companies involved with the wallets from withdrawing or transferring assets owned by the complainants.” It added: By effectively suspending the accounts holding the assets belonging to the Delaware victims, this precludes the exchanges hosting the wallets from allowing parties to move the cryptocurrency obtained fraudulently.
News Summary:
- To combat pig butchering scams, the US State Department issues an order suspending crypto at exchanges
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