The United States has initiated confiscation proceedings to seize approximately $200,000 worth of USDT held on Binance in connection with a $1.1 million pig slaughter scam.
The funds in question were linked to two hog slaughter scams that defrauded unnamed victims of more than $1 million. Documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia detail this information.
According to the document, the USDT in question is suspected to be proceeds from ‘transfer fraud, remittance fraud conspiracy, money laundering, and money laundering conspiracy.’
two scams
The documents describe how an unnamed victim fell victim to two pig slaughter scams, losing approximately $1.1 million between January 2021 and December 2022.
In the first scam, the victim developed a romantic relationship with scammer Eva Markus through Facebook. Markus also had a LinkedIn page.
According to the filing, “Markus was an engineering consultant from Boston, Massachusetts who temporarily worked on a mining project in Turkey. Markus and VICTIM developed a romantic relationship, communicating via phone and email.”
Markus tricked an anonymous victim into believing she was the owner of a diamond mine. Her victim deceived her by saying that the mine had exploded and that she needed funds to hire a lawyer to help Markus return to the United States. This resulted in the victim transferring over $400,000.
The unidentified individual began a second relationship on Facebook with someone named Lisa Warren. Warren said she identified herself as a cryptocurrency investor and convinced her to invest $55,000 in Bitcoin (BTC).
Ultimately, the victim decided to sell the house and invest the proceeds, resulting in a total transfer of approximately $600,000 in cryptocurrency. After recovering only $15,000 and conducting some research, the victim realized they had been scammed and reported the incident to the police.
According to documents submitted to the court, “(the victim) sent Warren a total of $587,197 worth of cryptocurrency, including transaction and exchange fees.”
The FBI traced some of the fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions to a Binance account named Izuchukwu Henry Okolo, who converted BTC to 196,721 USDT. Binance froze the funds and reported it to the FBI, which confiscated the funds.
“The defendant’s property is currently in the custody of the FBI and will be transferred to the United States Marshals Service in the District of Columbia,” the document reads.
Romance and the Pig Slaughter Scam
On Monday, Americans received advice from the Federal Trade Commission on how to handle a situation if someone they’re romantically interested in offers investment advice online.
“No one would think that their online love interest would cheat on them, but scammers are good at what they do,” the FTC noted.
Romance scams, often called pig-butcher scams, involve a scammer befriending a victim by posing as a potential love interest. Ultimately, individuals become victims of fraudulent cryptocurrency investments, and the perpetrators disappear without a trace.
Pig butcher scams typically begin when malicious actors gain the trust of unsuspecting victims and then demand a large investment in a lucrative scheme. After the victim transfers the funds, the scammer disappears with the money.
“As the name suggests, pig slaughter scams involve fattening the victims before slaughter,” said Nithin Kamath, founder of Zerodha. Scammers use fake profiles to gain users’ trust. They gain the trust of users under the guise of love and friendship, then trick them into sending and stealing money for jobs and high-yield investments. “These scams are global and their scope is enormous.”