Alabama officials have recovered more than $125,000 in cryptocurrency for two residents who were tricked by online scams known as “pig butchering”.
In one case, a woman from Baldwin County met a scammer on the dating app Bumble. Over the course of three months, she was convinced to buy and transfer around $185,000 in crypto to what she believed was a trading platform.
When she later tried to withdraw her investment, which was shown as having grown to over $443,000, she was told to send more crypto to cover supposed taxes. That demand raised suspicions, and she reported the case to the authorities.
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The Alabama Securities Commission (ASC) managed to recover $53,227.81 for her.
The second case involved a resident of Etowah County who responded to an ad on WhatsApp. The scam claimed to be connected to the financial firm Charles Schwab and claimed to be properly registered.
The victim ended up sending $395,310 to the fraudulent platform. Wells Fargo Advisors flagged the activity when the person attempted to make large withdrawals for crypto investments. The ASC was able to recover $73,927.68 in that case.
ASC Director Amanda Senn noted that crypto-related fraud is on the rise and that many of these scams originate overseas. Once the funds are sent, they are hard to trace or recover due to the speed of crypto transactions.
SlowMist, a blockchain security firm, recently reported that a crypto holder lost nearly $6.9 million after purchasing a discounted cold wallet through Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. How did it happen? Read the full story.
Having completed a Master’s degree in Economics, Politics, and Cultures of the East Asia region, Aaron has written scientific papers analyzing the differences between Western and Collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.
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