四名美国公民涉嫌8000万美元骗取加密货币

Four U.S. nationals have been charged for participating in an illicit scheme that earned them more than $80 million via cryptocurrency investment scams.

四名美国国民因参与非法计划而被指控，通过加密货币投资诈骗赚取了超过8000万美元。

The defendants – Lu Zhang, 36, of Alhambra, California; Justin Walker, 31, of Cypress, California; Joseph Wong, 32, Rosemead, California; and Hailong Zhu, 40, Naperville, Illinois – have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, concealment money laundering, and international money laundering.

被告——卢张（Lu Zhang），36岁，加利福尼亚州阿尔汉布拉；贾斯汀·沃克（Justin Walker），31岁，加利福尼亚州西佛利，约瑟夫·黄（Joseph Wong），32岁，加利福尼亚州罗斯密德，和海龙·朱（Hailong Zhu），40岁，伊利诺伊州内珀维尔——被指控串谋犯有洗钱、隐瞒洗钱和国际洗钱罪。

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), which announced the arrests of both Zhang and Walker in connection with the fraudulent operation, said the quartet opened shell companies and bank accounts to carry out pig butchering scams, transferring the ill-gotten funds to domestic and international financial entities.

美国司法部（DoJ）宣布逮捕张和沃克与诈骗行动有关，表示这四人开设空壳公司和银行账户进行‘屠宰猪’诈骗，将非法获得的资金转账给国内和国际金融实体。

If convicted, Zhang and Walker face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Their alleged co-conspirators remain at large.

如果定罪，张和沃克最高面临20年监禁。他们被指控的同谋仍然在逃。

"The overall fraud scheme in the related pig-butchering syndicate involved at least 284 transactions and resulted in more than $80 million in victim losses," the DoJ said. "More than $20 million in victim funds were directly deposited into bank accounts associated with the defendants."

DoJ表示：“相关猪屠宰集团的整体欺诈计划涉及至少284起交易，导致超过8000万美元的受害者损失。”

The enforcement action comes as a Nigerian national named Eze Harrison Arinze was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in conducting pig butchering scams and defrauding 34 victims in 13 countries, leading to $592,000 in losses.

执法行动发生在尼日利亚国民埃泽·哈里森·阿林泽被判三年监禁之际，他因在进行‘屠宰猪’诈骗并欺骗了13个国家的34名受害者而被判刑，造成59.2万美元的损失。

Late last month, the U.S. DoJ also announced the seizure of nearly $9 million worth of Tether that were traced to cryptocurrency addresses allegedly associated with a Southeast Asia based organization that exploited over 70 victims through pig butchering scams.

上个月末，美国司法部还宣布查封了价值近900万美元的泰达币，这些数字被追踪到据称涉及一家总部位于东南亚的组织的加密货币地址，该组织通过‘屠宰猪’诈骗利用了超过70名受害者。

Pig butchering falls under the category of so-called romance-investment scams, wherein people are targeted via dating apps under fictitious identities to gain their trust and dupe them into investing their money in seemingly legitimate and profitable ventures, typically promising high investment returns within a short span of time.

‘屠宰猪’是所谓的浪漫投资诈骗的一部分，人们通过约会应用以虚构的身份成为目标，以赢得他们的信任，并欺骗他们将钱投资于看似合法和有利可图的企业，通常承诺在短时间内获得高额投资回报。

"After persuading the victim to invest, the scammers collect the funds, often using digital payment platforms or cryptocurrencies to make tracking more difficult," Trend Micro said in a report detailing the scam.

趋势微型在一份详细介绍该诈骗的报告中表示：“在说服受害者投资后，骗子会收取资金，通常使用数字支付平台或加密货币，使追踪变得更加困难。”

"Once they have received a substantial sum from their victims, or once the victims try to withdraw funds from the account, the scammers will suddenly become unreachable, or the brokerage platform will have trouble transferring funds. Scammers could also delete their online presence or create new identities, making it difficult for victims to recover their lost funds."

“一旦他们从受害者那里获得了可观的金额，或者一旦受害者试图从账户中提取资金，骗子将会突然变得无法联系，或者经纪平台将在转移资金时出现问题。骗子还可能删除他们的在线存在，或者创建新的身份，使受害者难以恢复失去的资金。”

One of the emerging trends in the space involves the use of group chats, indicating that the cyber criminals are adapting and refining their strategies to make them more effective.

该领域的新趋势之一涉及使用群聊，表明网络犯罪分子正在调整和完善他们的策略，使其更加有效。

In these cases, prospective victims are added to a fake investment chat group under their control. Should the target express interest in investing in cryptocurrencies, the conversation is moved to a one-to-one chat, where they are introduced to a bogus brokerage platform and persuaded to transfer their funds to the service.

在这些情况下，有意向的受害者被添加到他们控制的虚假投资群组中。如果目标表达对在加密货币中投资的兴趣，对话将被转移到一对一的聊天中，在那里他们会被介绍给一个虚假的经纪平台，并被说服将资金转移到该服务中。

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report, cryptocurrency investment scams have led to unprecedented losses totaling $2.57 billion in 2022, registering a 183% increase from 2021.

根据联邦调查局（FBI）互联网犯罪投诉中心（IC3）的报告，2022年加密货币投资诈骗导致的损失总额达到了25.7亿美元，较2021年增加了183%。

"A significant portion of these phone numbers can be traced back to leaked databases containing personal information," the cybersecurity firm said. "More than half of the numbers added to the fake group chats have been found in such databases, indicating that scammers could be using leaked information to find their next victims."

该网络安全公司表示：“这些电话号码的大部分可以追溯到泄露的包含个人信息的数据库。超过一半的被添加到虚假群聊中的号码在这类数据库中被发现，表明骗子可能正在使用泄露的信息寻找他们的下一个受害者。”