US seizes US$500,000 in crypto from Chinese businessman linked to Asian ‘pig butchering’ scam

Money stolen from US fraud victims was traced to the account registered to Wang Yicheng, the vice-president of a Bangkok-based Chinese trade group

In ‘pig butchering’ scams, fraudsters persuade unsuspecting people they meet online to invest in bogus crypto schemes

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An image of Wang Yicheng is seen on the website of the Thai-Asia Economic Exchange Trade Association in September. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:26am, 13 Dec 2023

The United States has seized digital currency worth about half a million dollars from an account registered to a Chinese man who featured in a Reuters investigation into crypto-investment fraud run from Southeast Asia.

US authorities said the scam that prompted the seizure involved a crypto-investment fraud known as pig butchering. In such schemes, fraudsters manipulate unsuspecting people they meet online, persuading them to invest in bogus cryptocurrency schemes.

The US Secret Service seized the cryptocurrency from an account in the name of Wang Yicheng in June, according to a document filed by US authorities in federal court in Massachusetts. The cryptocurrency was worth about US$500,000 at the time. Money initially stolen from a Massachusetts victim was traced to Wang’s account, the November 21 filing said.

Reuters, in an article published last month, identified Wang as a businessman who forged relationships with members of Thailand’s law-enforcement and political elite while serving as the vice-president of a Bangkok-based Chinese trade group.

The headquarters of the Thai-Asia Economic Exchange Trade Association is pictured in the suburbs of Bangkok, Thailand in September. Photo: Reuters

The November 23 article detailed how a cryptocurrency account in Wang’s name received more than US$90 million in recent years, based on documents and transaction logs. Of that, at least US$9.1 million came from a cryptocurrency wallet that US blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs said was linked to pig-butchering scams.