April 3 (UPI) -- The Justice Department has seized more than $112 million in cryptocurrency investment schemes, often called "pig butchers," or romance scams designed to lure victims online.
On Monday, Justice Department judges in the Districts of Arizona, Central California and Idaho upheld forfeiture orders for six virtual currency accounts allegedly used to launder money from various trusted cryptocurrency scams.
According to court documents, the suspected scammers built long-term relationships with victims online before convincing them to invest in cryptocurrency trading platforms run by the scammers.
"Transnational criminal organizations are combining trust fraud with advanced technology to defraud Americans of their hard-earned funds," said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Pollitt of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.
“This horrific scam, in which the fraudster carefully develops a relationship with his victim over time, has torn apart families and robbed people of their lives. Now that we have confiscated this virtual currency, we are trying to return it to the victims as soon as possible. I will do it,” said Bhadra
According to the FBI, investment fraud accounted for the largest loss of all frauds in 2022 at $3.31 billion. Most of the schemes involve cryptocurrency scams, which grew by 183% between 2021 and 2022.
The FBI said most of the victims were between the ages of 30 and 49, and most of the schemes were called "sha zhu pan," a Chinese term that translates to "pork butcher." This scam is also known as a romance scheme, where the scammer contacts and gains the victim's trust before encouraging them to invest in cryptocurrency trading. After that, victims are denied access to their funds.
"Financial fraud schemes like this show the lengths criminals will go to to trick unsuspecting victims," said Luis Quesada, deputy director of the FBI's Criminal Investigation Division. "
"In addition to our tireless efforts to stop this scheme, we must help raise public awareness and inform potential victims," Pollitt said.
"Be wary of people you meet online, take investment advice from people you've never met in person, especially cryptocurrencies, and remember that these are usually investments that sound too good to be true":