A ‘pig butchering’ gang was busted by the US government, Binance, and the Thai police, who together managed to seize $277 million.
A multi-million dollar cryptocurrency scam was brought down by the US government, Thai police, and the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the world by volume.
Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange, claims in a new blog post that it helped disrupt a criminal ring that used phony investment websites to defraud unsuspecting customers.
The Royal Thai Police’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) collaborated with cryptocurrency exchange Binance and the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to break up a criminal ring responsible for a massive pig butchering scam that affected thousands of Thais.
The CCIB, armed with information from Binance and HSI, detained five of the group’s leaders and seized property worth an estimated THB 10 billion ($277 million USD), including high-end automobiles, mansions, and agricultural land. More than 3,200 people have come forward since then demanding financial recompense.
Pig butchering scams occur when criminals acquire the trust of their victims over time, convincing them to invest money in bogus online investment platforms and then convincing them to pay more money, sometimes in the form of bogus tax bills, to keep the fraud running.
Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau’s Inspector of the Cyber Support Unit and High-Tech Crime Division, Lieutenant Colonel Thanatus Kangruambutr, has said as much.
“We greatly value Binance’s substantial role in disrupting this criminal organization. Hundreds of millions of baht have been lost to crypto scams in recent years, wreaking havoc on the Thai economy.
This operation was effective, however, because of timely communication amongst crucial partners including the Binance Investigations team.
We continue to rely on Binance as a critical partner in the fight against fraud and cybercrime. We appreciate working with you and hope to keep doing so in the future.”