ChainCatcher news, former Heartland Tri-State Bank CEO Shan Hanes was sentenced to 293 months in prison for embezzling $47 million in a "pig butchering" scheme.The ruling stated that Hanes relinquished ownership of the funds in the Ethereum address managed by Tether Limited. Tether blacklisted the address and froze its transaction permissions to protect investors' rights.Judge John W. Broomes confirmed that all shareholders will receive full compensation. Meanwhile, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) also provided full protection for the bank's depositors.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the police in Nghe An Province, Vietnam, which borders Laos and the Gulf of Tonkin, have dismantled a Lao scam gang related to fraudulent wire transfers. These scammers specialize in pig butchering and cryptocurrency investment scams. One of the scammers visited Laos in September 2023 and joined the scam gang. In February of this year, they began creating Facebook accounts to lure victims into emotional deception and investment fraud.One of the scammers posed as a woman and gained the trust of a man in Ho Chi Minh City. The victim was ultimately tricked into investing in "Biconomynft," a fake application that promised high returns. Over the course of several months, the scammers stole more than 17.6 billion Vietnamese dong (700,000 USD) from the victim. Initially, the scammers would win the victim's trust by releasing a portion of the investment funds as profits, but once the victim invested more money, the scammers would lock the account and freeze the funds.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against 3 individuals and 5 companies, accusing them of operating a "pig butchering" scam. Such scams gain the trust of victims through social media applications, luring them into investing in fake cryptocurrency platforms before absconding with their funds. This is the SEC's first enforcement action against this type of cryptocurrency scam. The SEC alleges that the NanoBit platform defrauded at least 18 investors of nearly $1 million through a fraudulent cryptocurrency ecosystem, while another platform, CoinW6, deceived at least 11 investors out of a total of $2.2 million. The SEC warns the public to be vigilant about investment opportunities promoted on social media.

ChainCatcher message, on-chain detective ZachXBT tweeted that one of the WBTC holders is a suspicious entity related to ransomware/pig butchering. The holding data is as follows:1253 WBTC ($73 million) 0xed805ac246f441ea0d057b81d910ef1e39eb5995185 WBTC ($10.8 million) 0x9a5c7630d327885ae849217702824e5835d3c5e0

ChainCatcher News: The U.S. Secret Service has seized a network domain used for a "pig butchering" scam involving cryptocurrency trust fraud. In a "pig butchering" scam, fraudsters contact victims through various means, including dating apps, social media websites, and even random text messages disguised as wrong numbers.It is reported that the fraudsters establish a relationship with the victims and gradually gain their trust, ultimately introducing the idea of using cryptocurrency for business investments. Victims are directed to other members involved in the scheme, who operate fake cryptocurrency investment platforms where victims are persuaded to invest funds. Once the funds are transferred to the fraudulent investment application, victims suffer significant losses.According to court records, between approximately August 2022 and July 2023, the fraudsters lured a victim from Warren County to wire funds to the now-seized domain OKEX-NFT.net. The fraudsters employed the aforementioned trust-building techniques to convince the victim that he/she was making a legitimate cryptocurrency investment.Furthermore, after the victim transferred investment funds to a deposit address associated with the seized domain provided by the fraudsters, the victim's funds were immediately transferred through multiple bank accounts to conceal the source of the funds. In total, the victim lost over $341,000.

ChainCatcher news, Binance released a report stating that the number of pig-butchering scam cases reported to Binance increased by 100.5% from 2022 to 2023. To identify warning signs and avoid pig-butchering scams, Binance offers the following advice:Be cautious of "too good to be true" offers: High returns with low or no risk are often a red flag.Conduct thorough research on investment opportunities, companies, relevant individuals, and specific market segments.Verify credibility by ensuring that the investment platform or individual has the appropriate licenses, registrations, and is authorized to operate in your jurisdiction.Do not rush into decisions; scammers often create a sense of urgency to force you into hasty choices.Be wary of mysterious or complex schemes; any investment opportunity should strive for clarity and transparency.Protect personal information; never share sensitive personal or financial information with anyone.Be skeptical of unsolicited information.Monitor your investments; keep track of your investments and maintain open communication with the investment platform or individual.

Chain Catcher News, the FBI's Miami Field Office, in collaboration with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), has issued a "Pig Butchering" warning regarding investment schemes involving cryptocurrency. It states that in these scams, fraudsters pose as highly successful cryptocurrency traders, luring victims into making so-called investments in cryptocurrency and providing fictitious returns to encourage further investment. Fraudsters contact victims through various social media platforms to gain their trust.The FBI has released five ways to identify potential illegal activities: 1. Verify the legitimacy of any investment; 2. Be wary of domain names impersonating legitimate financial institutions, especially cryptocurrency trading platforms; 3. Watch out for misspelled URLs; 4. Do not download or use suspicious applications as investment tools; 5. Be cautious of any high-yield investment products. Additionally, it calls on victims to report relevant information to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center through IC3. (Source link)