DOJ Seizes $9M in USDT
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Tuesday that they have seized nearly $9 million worth of tether, a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar. According to the Justice Department, these seized funds were traced to cryptocurrency addresses allegedly associated with an organization that exploited over 70 victims through romance scams and cryptocurrency confidence scams, known as ‘pig butchering.’
The Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Nicole M. Argentieri explained that these scammers target regular investors through deceptive websites, falsely claiming that their investments were generating profits.
In reality, the transactions were portrayed as investments with reputable firms and cryptocurrency exchanges. However, these entities were non-existent trading platforms. The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) were able to trace those deposits and observed that the funds were quickly laundered through dozens of cryptocurrency addresses and exchanged for several different cryptocurrencies, called ‘chain hopping’ and ‘layering.’
Following a DOJ investigation relating to pig butchering crypto schemes, Tether announced that it voluntarily froze $225 million in USDT, calling it “the largest-ever freeze of USDT in history.”
Urgent Warnings from Law Enforcement Agencies Worldwide
A concerning trend of pig butchering crypto scams has been sweeping across the globe, prompting urgent warnings from law enforcement agencies worldwide. In August last year, U.S. authorities expressed concern over the alarming popularity of pig butchering scams. In April of this year, the DOJ seized cryptocurrency worth $112 million in a pig butchering scam crackdown. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a warning last week, highlighting that U.S. taxpayers are currently the most targeted demographic for pig butchering schemes.
Hot Take
The U.S. DOJ has seized $9 million tether (USDT) allegedly linked to “pig butchering” crypto scams. The Justice Department explained that U.S. Secret Service agents and analysts tracked the laundering of victims’ crypto deposits through numerous cryptocurrency addresses, where they were exchanged for various cryptocurrencies.
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