Cryptocurrency Investments: Pig-Butchering Scams Net More Than $75 Billion, Study Finds
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Pig-butchering scammers have likely stolen more than $75 billion from victims around the world, far more than previously estimated, according to a new study.John Griffin, a finance professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and graduate student Kevin Mei gathered crypto addresses from more than 4,000 victims of the fraud, which has exploded in popularity since the pandemic. With blockchain tracing tools, they tracked the flow of funds from victims to scammers, who are largely based in Southeast Asia. Over four years, from January 2020 to February 2024, the criminal networks moved more than $75 billion to crypto exchanges, said Griffin, who has written about fraud in financial markets. Some of the total could represent proceeds from other criminal activities, he said. “These...
