- DOJ seizes $61 million in USDT linked to crypto pig butchering scam in North Carolina.
- Tether cooperates with U.S. authorities to freeze stablecoin funds tied to romance-based crypto fraud.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has seized more than $61 million worth of USDT, which is connected to a well-known “pig butchering” scam. Their seizure was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, which worked together with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to recover the funds.
What are pig butchering scams?
Pig butchering is a type of online fraud that basically starts with fake romantic relationships. Scammers usually contact victims through social or dating apps and build trust with them. Then they encourage victims to invest money in the fake crypto trading app by showing fake profits to make the investment look real. Then they ask to invest more money in the app. After a huge amount of money is invested, the scammers would take all the money and disappear.
How the funds were traced
Investigators traced the USDT, which was stolen from the specific wallet address linked to the fraud network. The Tether company behind the USDT helped law enforcement freeze and transfer the funds. This shows that the successful cooperation between the Department of Justice, Homeland Security Investigations, and Tether made the seizure possible. Authorities say that this is one of the largest USDT seizures linked to pig butchering in U.S. history.
Most of these big scams are done through USDT because they move quickly across the border and are much easier to transfer than traditional bank funds, which can be sent without using banks. However, these transactions can still be tracked by the investigators.
Officials say these types of scams caused billions of dollars in losses in recent years. This shows that pig butchering scams have become one of the fastest-growing scams across the globe. This $61 million seizure market has a significant impact on the major crypto frauds.
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