A technology company based in the Philippines has been sanctioned by the US Treasury for allegedly supporting the operation of thousands of fraudulent cryptocurrency websites.
The firm, known as Funnull Technology, and its alleged operator are officially blacklisted.
According to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Funnull played a major role in setting up websites that trick people into sending over their crypto. These sites often resemble legitimate investment platforms, but they are clones designed to steal funds.
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OFAC said in a 29 May statement that Funnull bought large numbers of internet addresses from cloud providers and sold them to scam operators, which helped them build and maintain these fake platforms.
As part of the sanctions, Liu Lizhi, a Chinese citizen who managed Funnull’s operations, has been added to OFAC’s list of blocked individuals.
Under the new restrictions, anyone in the US is banned from working with or handling assets connected to Funnull or Liu if they control more than half of the company or property involved.
Two crypto wallet addresses tied to Funnull were also sanctioned. Chainalysis, a blockchain firm, reported that these wallets likely received payments from cybercriminals. Chainalysis added that these addresses are linked to a system that includes services for buying and managing domain names used in scams.
On May 20, US regulators filed a lawsuit against Unicoin, a crypto investment firm, and three of its senior executives. What happened? 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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