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

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

#181

Post by anticodon »

yhager wrote: post #48
PaywallBuster wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Direct link to the indictment https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/chairman-prince-group-i... Cambodia's specifically 30-50% of the economy can be directly attributed to scamming plus casinos This one of the other organizations / major bank used for money laundering directly linked to Hun Sen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huione_Group > The company is linked to Cambodia's ruling Hun family, which includes the current…

> Cambodia's specifically 30-50% of the economy can be directly attributed to scamming plus casinos Are you saying that 30-50% of Cambodia's economy can be directly attributed to scamming and casinos? I find that shocking and hard to believe. Do you have a source for that statement?

Cambodia is a small country with no natural resources of any kind. Even to grow rice you need diesel for tractors and fertilizers that are produced from natural gas using energy (which Cambodia lacks).

There's very few opportunities for a small country without resources.

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

#182

Post by jeltz »

postexitus wrote: post #117
xnx wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1/3 of the country's entire GDP $15 billion is a huge number to be sure, but it's unclear from the article how many years it took to acquire.

So should we praise the gang's money saving habits?

No, isn't it more likely about them earning money quicker than they are able to launder it?

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

#183

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

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 :)

What it means, is that the average person doesn't care about Bitcoin, so if you want the article to apply it the average person, you need to denominate the value in something else.

If someone stole 22 WobiBobbyBones I wouldn't care. If a WobiBobbyBone was worth a billion dollars, then I'd think that's news.

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

#185

Post by lmm »

kevinak wrote: post #174
ur-whale wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which just goes to show that custody is a hard and almost always under-estimated problem.

It is, but it's not so hard that you can't figure it out to keep your 15 billion safe.

Well these guys apparently didn't manage that.

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

#186

Post by lmm »

lazide wrote: post #141
h33t-l4x0r wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if the victims get their money back it would only account for 25% or so because the price of BTC has moved so far since they lost it. (I think many victims will successfully petition for their money back)

In theory the court should give them back the actual bitcoin, not the monetary equivalent at the time. In a just world, anyway. Based on current judicial trends, they’ll probably get Coinbase coupons worth 50% of a different coin or something.

> In theory the court should give them back the actual bitcoin, not the monetary equivalent at the time.

Why? Most of them didn't care about bitcoin, they bought it solely to give to the scammer.

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

#187

Post by senordevnyc »

PaywallBuster wrote: post #47
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.

Direct link to the indictment https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/chairman-prince-group-i... Cambodia's specifically 30-50% of the economy can be directly attributed to scamming plus casinos This one of the other organizations / major bank used for money laundering directly linked to Hun Sen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huione_Group > The company is linked to Cambodia's ruling Hun family, which includes the current…

Cambodia's specifically 30-50% of the economy can be directly attributed to scamming plus casinos

This is ridiculously false.

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

#188

Post by senordevnyc »

yhager wrote: post #48
PaywallBuster wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Direct link to the indictment https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/chairman-prince-group-i... Cambodia's specifically 30-50% of the economy can be directly attributed to scamming plus casinos This one of the other organizations / major bank used for money laundering directly linked to Hun Sen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huione_Group > The company is linked to Cambodia's ruling Hun family, which includes the current…

> Cambodia's specifically 30-50% of the economy can be directly attributed to scamming plus casinos Are you saying that 30-50% of Cambodia's economy can be directly attributed to scamming and casinos? I find that shocking and hard to believe. Do you have a source for that statement?

They don't have a source because it's total bullshit.

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

#189

Post by jeltz »

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 :)

So if somebody sized a stock portfolio should they mention the number of shares? The market value is in most cases more interesting than the number of coins.

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

#190

Post by senordevnyc »

PaywallBuster wrote: post #52
yhager wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cambodia's specifically 30-50% of the economy can be directly attributed to scamming plus casinos Are you saying that 30-50% of Cambodia's economy can be directly attributed to scamming and casinos? I find that shocking and hard to believe. Do you have a source for that statement?

It's a small / under developed country the economy is not that big to start with :) GDP $49.8 Billion (nominal; 2025) Some examples https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/cambodia...

Formal estimates range from $12.5 to $19 billion dollars per year, equivalent to as much as 60% of the country’s formal GDP

Formal estimates by who? Given that the GDP is around $50B, these (unsourced) numbers don't even make sense.

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