Four American inhabitants are accused of a series of money laundering violations related to a large “pig separation” fraud syndicate.
Lu Zhang, 36, from Alhambra, California; Justin Walker, 31, from Cypress, California; Joseph Wong, 32, from Rosemead, California; and Hailong Zhu, 40, from Naperville, Illinois, are accused of conspiracy to carry out money, money laundering and international money laundering.
The quartet is accused of conspiracy to set up Shell companies and to open bank accounts to launder the proceeds from pig separation – a kind of investment fraud – as well as other fraudulent schemes.
They transferred the funds to the US and international bank accounts, with more than $ 20 million immediately deposited on bank accounts that are linked to the four, according to the Ministry of Justice (DOJ). It has been said of the pigs from the pigs that it involved at least 284 suspicious transactions and resulted in losing to victims of more than $ 80 million.
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Pig separation is derived from a Chinese expression to the Modus Operandi From fraudsters who “fatten” their victims before they enter the murder. Most of the time victims from blue are approached online, by unsolicited messages or on dating sites, where the scammer tries to build a report to win their trust.
As soon as they believe this has happened, they will suggest that the victim is investing in a cryptocurrency schedule. Although the apps with which they get access can show that they are growing their investment, the funds are simply diverted to the bank account of the scammer, to never be seen again.
By the time the victim realizes, it is too late.
Zhang and Walker are in custody and are confronted with a maximum fine of 20 years in prison, although the remaining two are still free.
According to the FBI, investment fraud was the highest earning cyber crime type in 2022. Scammers earned more than $ 3.3 billion from just over 30,000 reported incidents.