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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

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly enough, China is thought to have leaned on the scales in Myanmar’s civil conflict due to pig-butchering there. (Not only were they scamming Chinese, they were also human trafficking them to operate the scams.)

China only began executing those pig-butcherers when the EAO that was providing protection to Chinese pig-butchering gangs in that region of Myanmar (Kachin Independence Army) re-flipped towards India recently [0] and had begun to ignore China [1] and rerouting rare earths and other goods to India [2] Meanwhile, China never cracked down against similar scams in Cambodia. Most notably, Prince Group remains unsanctione…

> the EAO that was providing protection to Chinese pig-butchering gangs in that region of Myanmar (Kachin Independence Army)

Kachin is not a relevant location of scam centers. You can find articles that claim otherwise, e.g. https://www.ctol.digital/news/inside-worlds-largest-scam-emp... but from the fact that they mention the Thai border and the city of Myawaddy, which is in Kayin/Karen State, it's clear that they're just confusing Kachin and Kayin.

The Kachin Independence Army seems to finance itself through mining instead.

While it's true that some scammers were recently sentenced to death in China https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78nrx309kzo and this only happened after the Kachin Independence Army disrupted the rare-earth trade with China, that's just a temporal coincidence. The scammers were captured in 2023 in Laukkai in northern Shan State near the Chinese border by the MNDAA (an anti-junta armed group dominated by ethnic Chinese) as part of Operation 1027. China is rumored to have assisted the operation in order to crack down on the scam centers in junta-controlled territory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_1027#Cyber-scamming_... The Kachin Independence Army also participated in Operation 1027, but in Kachin, not Shan.

I don't know about Cambodia.

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

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Well you could just reverse all the transactions. But they probably won't do that.

not really? presumably many people transfer via platforms like Coinbase that use a shared wallet system. You can't just "send the money back where it came from" as those wallets might not actually be controlled by the funds owner.

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

#103
post #58
post #46

Do they force you to reveal your private keys? After obtaining the bitcoins, are they forced to sell it immediately? How does this affect the market?

Bitcoin market cap is $2.2T, so $15B of that is 0.7% of all bitcoins. They aren't selling them on open market, but in an auction (or a couple of auctions). It may not have an immediate influence on the bitcoin price, unless the buyer sells them right away. When someone sells an amount that big, it's done over a long period of time, to not crash the market (you'd probably get significantly less money if you sold it fa…

> Bitcoin market cap is $2.2T, so $15B of that is 0.7% of all bitcoins.

Famously illiquid though.

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

#104

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?

Surely it would be possible for victims to come forward and provide a paper trail of WhatsApp transcripts and blockchain transactions.

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

#105
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Which makes it worse. A scamming operation that is 1/3 of the GDP is huuuuuuge.

It’s apples to oranges really. You confuse turnover with capital here.

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

#106

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

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

#107
post #99

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.

Wait, hold on, I thought the promise of crypto was that: 1. The feds can't take your money. 2. Once your money's gone, it's gone. If criminals can't count on #1 holding true, and their victims can't count on #2 holding true, what is even the point of it?

They used the forbidden technique of 5€ wrench.

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

#108

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?

[deleted]

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

#109

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's part of America's new Strategic Crypto Reserve where Uncle Sam holds bags for crypto bros.

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

#110

So apparently the FBI or other US agency hacked this guy and drained his wallets? No indication he’s been arrested, wallets said to be unhosted. Clearly should’ve used an offline wallet lol.

Taylor is on to something here: https://x.com/tayvano_/status/1978273602719158448 tl;dr: Someone cracked these weak entropy wallets 3+ years before anyone else and kept it secret Whether that was the USG or another entity has yet to be revealed

After having read the thread it's not clear to me where the "3 years" comes from ?

EDIT and were the keys cracked, or were the passphrases obtained ? It's mentioned elsewhere that he had them written down. Which would be a much easier "hack"

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