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U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

krebsonsecurity.com

221–230 of 305 posts

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#221
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Due process just means following pre-written law. ex. There's no judge involved when a cop shows up to a fight and arrests both people. It's the same law [1] that everybody is talking about w.r.t. Trump's Tariffs except that global trade isn't emergent while Funnull is a new actor. [1]: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201600880/pdf/DCPD-...

They arrest people to put them in front of a judge. This is nothing like that.

I'm sure the treasury department would love for the guy to appear in front of a judge.

However, he's also welcome to email an appeal [1].

Note: This is a civil penalty. Much like a traffic ticket and does not require a judge.

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You won't necessarily show up in front of a judge if you get arrested. You may get released with no charges. You might also not get court time until a year+ from now inwhich case you'll probably plead guilty to time served regardless of the crime since it lets you out now.

Due process does not mean "judge approved". It just means consistent with written law.

[1]: https://ofac.treasury.gov/specially-designated-nationals-lis...

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#222
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you cite where in the US code of law a foreign criminal is afforded due process in a sanction action?

That's more of a problem with the US code of law than with the point GP is making.

I have 0 issues with the US sanctioning criminal organizations that are defrauding Americans. It’s not a slippery slope, it’s common sense which is why literally nobody is trying to defend the perpetrator in a court of law.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#223
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I'm wondering. How do you get the typical person to fall for a scam to open a crypto account, buy it, go through kyc, etc

>How do you get the typical person to fall for a scam to open a crypto account, buy it, go through kyc, etc With spam like the below (note that the original contains mostly UTF8 characters to avoid spam filters). I get these every so often on the NOC and postmaster addresses of domains I manage. It's not even phishing. Just spam blasts to find anyone uninformed enough to believe it, and insecure enough to be afraid o…

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Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is, crypto makes irreversibility a fundamental part of the system, making it impossible for any party to unilaterally reverse a payment without having to first take over the entire chain. With regular fiat money and banks, such reversals are perfectly possible on a technical level. The banks are usually unwilling to do them, and an individual may not be able to force them to in practice, but it's still…

How do you reverse yourself mailing $1000 USD cash to some scam outfit?

I meant electronic payments specifically; my error in using terms that implied cash also counts.

Obviously, you can't just reverse a cash transaction. It's one of the reasons people try to avoid using it in many situations.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is, crypto makes irreversibility a fundamental part of the system, making it impossible for any party to unilaterally reverse a payment without having to first take over the entire chain. With regular fiat money and banks, such reversals are perfectly possible on a technical level. The banks are usually unwilling to do them, and an individual may not be able to force them to in practice, but it's still…

Reversing stolen crypto transactions in practice is done the same way you reverse stolen cash transactions. You find the criminal, and the cash and give back the cash to the wronged party. With cash, the criminal can hide the cash in some random location, and nobody can say if they spent it or they lost it. With crypto, everyone knows where the money is. You just have to figure out the passwords to the wallet in some…

Right, my mistake for using too broad terms. I meant specifically electronic payments, which have this reversibility aspect that neither cash nor crypto have.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, tiptoeing here, kind of agree. Am I missing something or do these scams operate on a person's greed? To be sure, I invest in order to see a return. That's greed, I guess? Or maybe not? I think having (unrealistic) expectations of doubling your money in anything shorter than ... about a decade ... should be sending up red flags for anyone. "Make money fast" should fire the same neurons as "Put it all on zero and sp…

Scams operate on any character flaw, with varying degrees of effort required. They exploit the human mind. They might target greed, or loneliness, or insecurity, or even fear of loss. But we all have character flaws. Everyone. So we are all vulnerable. Not to the same scams, but to some scams.

Sure but can you admit some people are more flawed than others? I don't think it's useful to just handwave this away and act like we are all the same.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#227
post #25

Cryptocurrency enables a big part of this. Not saying that there weren't any wire scams before crypto, but crypto has made it much easier for average people to make anonymous international money transfers that can't be reversed. Not to start a big argument, but to my eyes the main usecases of cryptocurrency are to bet on them as a speculative asset or to use them for various forms of crime. Someone will probably tell…

> Someone will probably tell me about some theoretical situation where it is a positive force Challenge accepted. My positive use case for cryptocurrency pertains to someone like me being over sixty and worried about being swept up into the guardianship system. With most of my assets in crypto and assuming decent opsec, they would be inaccessible to the guardian. If a judge ordered me to grant access, could I be cite…

whats the benefit to you though?

youre going to be incarcerated in an even worse kept old folks home, and anything you actually try to spend on will be both spied upon - you getting a nurse to type in the secrets for you, or confiscated an sold before yoy could enjoy the results.

i think you'd be better off trying to tackle the problem directly, and get legal changes to how guardianship works, since itll still screw over your crypto assets

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#228
post #25

Cryptocurrency enables a big part of this. Not saying that there weren't any wire scams before crypto, but crypto has made it much easier for average people to make anonymous international money transfers that can't be reversed. Not to start a big argument, but to my eyes the main usecases of cryptocurrency are to bet on them as a speculative asset or to use them for various forms of crime. Someone will probably tell…

> Cryptocurrency enables at big part of this

Interesting panel discussion on the state of crypto today at the Regan National Economic Forum event.

I believe it is the third panel in the stream:

https://www.reaganfoundation.org/events/videos/2025-reagan-n...

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#229
post #70

I wonder what kind of scam my generation will be falling for when we get old. At least I have smart, trustworthy kids. If I didn’t, I’d be making smart, trustworthy young friends, and soon.

I wonder what kind of scam my generation will be falling for when we get old.

There was a study recently (last year?) that found Millennials are more likely to fall for online scams than Boomers and Gen-X.

The reason is because Boomers and Gen-X grew up during the advent of the internet, when there was a lot of media about the dangers online. Millennials (and presumably Z's, too) never knew life before the internet, and didn't get all those warnings when it was spinning up, so they trust what they see more.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#230
post #70

I wonder what kind of scam my generation will be falling for when we get old. At least I have smart, trustworthy kids. If I didn’t, I’d be making smart, trustworthy young friends, and soon.

I wonder what kind of scam my generation will be falling for when we get old. There was a study recently (last year?) that found Millennials are more likely to fall for online scams than Boomers and Gen-X. The reason is because Boomers and Gen-X grew up during the advent of the internet, when there was a lot of media about the dangers online. Millennials (and presumably Z's, too) never knew life before the internet,…

Interesting. As it happens I’m Gen X, and possibly we’re more wary than millennials now, but I fully expect cognitive decline to affect that.
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