The US Ministry of Finance has sanctioned a Philippine-based tech company, Funnull Technology Inc., for having delivered the computer infrastructure to “hundreds of thousands of sites” involved in pigbutching fraud, according to a press release on Thursday from Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC).
Ofac also sanctioned Liu Lizhi, a Chinese national working as Funnull Technology’s administrator. According to the press release, Funnull Technology has directly relieved more than $ 200 million in losses from fraud victims in the United States for these victims, the average losses per year. Individual was over $ 150,000.
“Today’s action emphasizes our focus on disturbing the criminal companies that Funnull, enabling these cyber fraud and depriving Americans their hard-earned savings,” said Deputy Secretary of Treasury Michael Faulkker in the press release. “The United States is strongly obliged to ensure the continued growth of a legitimate, safe and secure digital active ecosystem, including the use of virtual currencies and similar technologies.”
Pig coating schemes are a type of crypto -investment fraud in which the victim is nurtured over a long period of time, corresponding to a pig that is fatty before the slaughter before pressing to contribute large amounts of money to a fraudulent crypto investment. The water winds are often but not always romantic and often begin with an unsolicited text. The majority of scams are organized by criminal organizations in Southeast Asia, which use victims of work trade – essentially slaves that are held in terrible conditions – to perform fraud.
Last year, ofac sanctioned a wealthy Cambodian businessman, Ly Yong Phat-together with several of his business and hotels-for his role in pig-butching-associated human trafficking and torture.
Read more: US Treasury sanctions Cambodian Tycoon with ribbons for pigbutching fraud
According to OFAC, Funnull Technology provides cyber criminals with IP addresses purchased in bulk from cloud service providers around the world, which is then used to host scam platforms and other malicious web content. These sites and domain names are designed to emulate reliable sites and fool the victims into thinking their investments are legitimate.
LIU allegedly “occupied spreadsheets and other documents containing information about Funnull’s employees, their performance and their progress with tasks,” said ofac’s press release. “These tasks included the allocation of domain names to cyber criminals, including domains associated with virtual currency vesting fraud, phishing fraud and online game websites.”
By placing Funnull Technology and LIU on the specially designated Nationals List (SDN), OFAC prevents of all American persons – including citizens abroad and residents who live in America – from trading with them in any way.
