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DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

cnbc.com

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Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#121

Post by [deleted] »

csomar wrote: post #55
lotsofpulp wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allowing them to do what? The feds are saying they already have the keys, so either they are lying, or they already had the means to get the keys. Which would be the juicy part of the story.

According to the indictment: > Those funds (the Defendant Cryptocurrency) are presently in the custody of the U.S. government. > The defendant and his co-conspirators subsequently used some of the criminal proceeds for luxury travel and entertainment and to make extravagant purchases such as watches, yachts, private jets, vacation homes, high-end collectables, and rare artwork, including a Picasso painting purchased…

[deleted]

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#122

Post by classified »

ValveFan6969 wrote: post #93
Reason077 wrote: post #62

Wow. $15 billion is an astronomical, nearly unfathomable amount of money in Cambodia. This must have been a huge operation. It's almost 1/3 of the country's entire GDP! Well done DOJ. Hopefully the victims get their money back.

The victims getting their money back would defeat the whole purpose of Bitcoin. No one knows who originally owned it. How about cash it out and trickle it down to us... or is all that just gonna magically disappear?

It is definitely going to magically disappear, as in used as funding for ICE.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#123

Post by pjc50 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #37
sidewndr46 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Ars Technica: "Adding further mystery, it’s unknown how federal officials managed to obtain the cryptographic keys required to seize the funds from Zhi." My assumption is that at this point they just have orders from a judge allowing them to do it and they will find the means later.

Allowing them to do what? The feds are saying they already have the keys, so either they are lying, or they already had the means to get the keys. Which would be the juicy part of the story.

Quite possible they hacked the device they were stored on. I can't find confirmation that Chen has actually been arrested, as opposed to being charged in absentia.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#124

Post by jowea »

tonyhart7 wrote: post #85
Reason077 wrote: post #62

Wow. $15 billion is an astronomical, nearly unfathomable amount of money in Cambodia. This must have been a huge operation. It's almost 1/3 of the country's entire GDP! Well done DOJ. Hopefully the victims get their money back.

their business is scam center that by definition is not counted by GDP anyway

There are countries that count illegal activities in their GDP estimates.

And should their state sponsored criminal activities count for North Korean GDP for example?

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#125

Post by jowea »

immibis wrote: post #90
vintermann wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not hard to believe that a small country can have a vastly oversized economy due to finance - legal or illegal.

An example of a legal one is the UK

Or Ireland with the nominally headquartered multinationals there.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#126

Post by deviation »

mrtksn wrote: post #111

It's 127,271 Bitcoins. Interesting choice not to mention the number of Bitcoins but use its current market value in USD. I feel like this says something about Bitcoin but not sure what exactly. Edit: Wow, people really don't want to know how many Bitcoins were seized :)

Anecdotally, I would have thrown "127,271 BTC to USD" into Google. I didn't mind it.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#128

Post by jowea »

rags2riches wrote: post #106
Wingman4l7 wrote: post #13

Long overdue. At some point, these scam operations are so large that they have to be operating with tacit approval of their host countries, who have been given no incentive to stop the virtual cold war against the personal finances of foreign citizenry that is bringing in millions of dollars into their economy.

This makes me think of the Barbary Wars where piracy out of the Barbary states was a huge issue. There's also the connection with the slave trade then and the human trafficking for the scam centers now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Wars

Also North Korea with its state sponsored internet privateering.

Re: DOJ seizes $15B in Bitcoin from 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia

#130

Post by jowea »

greenchair wrote: post #21
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the virtual cold war against the personal finances of foreign citizenry Comparing a scam to war is inaccurate. The Cold War was a war running cold with the potential to go hot. Cambodia and America are not going to war over this.

that's a pretty naive view of war. we are at war with many countries all the time, most of it is cold.

Maybe we should call it "conflict", and include non-state actors.
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