US seizes US$500,000 in crypto from Chinese businessman linked to Asian ‘pig butchering’ scam

US authorities said the scam that prompted the seizure involved a crypto-investment fraud known as pig butchering. In such schemes, fraudsters manipulate unsuspecting people they meet online, persuading them to invest in bogus cryptocurrency schemes.

The US Secret Service seized the cryptocurrency from an account in the name of Wang Yicheng in June, according to a document filed by US authorities in federal court in Massachusetts. The cryptocurrency was worth about US$500,000 at the time. Money initially stolen from a Massachusetts victim was traced to Wang’s account, the November 21 filing said.

The November 23 article detailed how a cryptocurrency account in Wang’s name received more than US$90 million in recent years, based on documents and transaction logs. Of that, at least US$9.1 million came from a cryptocurrency wallet that US blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs said was linked to pig-butchering scams.

The report highlighted the example of a California man whose family said he was scammed out of about US$2.7 million. He sent money to cryptocurrency wallets that channelled funds into the account in Wang’s name, the reporting showed.

The recent US court filing cited another example, a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was allegedly cheated of about US$478,000 worth of cryptocurrency, which was diverted into two cryptocurrency accounts, one of which was in Wang’s name.

The details of the account given in the US court filing – including who it was registered to, where it was held, the account number’s last four digits and the corresponding cryptocurrency wallet address – match the details of the Wang account highlighted in the Reuters report.

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US authorities said the account in Wang’s name had received more than US$90 million since it was opened in 2020, according to the filing, which was an affidavit by US Secret Service Special Agent Heidi Robles.

“This level of activity is indicative of an account controlled by a criminal organisation for the purpose of laundering stolen funds,” Robles said in the filing.

Wang did not respond to requests for comment. The head of the Thai police’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau declined to comment.

The trade group Wang represented is called the Thai-Asia Economic Exchange Trade Association. In response to questions for this article, it said it abided by laws and regulations and did not support illegal activity. It said Wang’s business and personal affairs had “nothing to do with the trade association”, adding that Wang was no longer part of the group and it was no longer in contact with him.

The Thai-Asia group previously said in a December 4 letter that Wang left its board more than three months ago. That was due to Wang’s failure to pay the trade group’s new membership dues as well as “personal reasons”, on which the letter did not elaborate.

The group said background checks it conducted on Wang when he originally applied for membership and after Reuters’ November 23 report found no criminal record.

The US court filing was part of a civil forfeiture action, in which the government seeks court approval to take possession of seized assets it alleges are linked to a crime. The United States has not filed a criminal action related to the case, the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said at the time of its November filing.

Acting US Attorney Joshua Levy in Massachusetts told Reuters that his office has been using civil forfeitures to recover funds stolen via cryptocurrency fraud schemes. “Despite the seemingly elusive nature of cryptocurrency transactions, law enforcement is adapting and evolving,” he said in a statement.