Research organization Chainalysis pointed out in its mid-year encryption crime report that fraud techniques related to "pig-killing plates" are quickly replacing previous Ponzi schemes and becoming the main form of cryptocurrency fraud in 2024.
What is a pig killing plate?
"Pig-killing fraud" means that criminals use their victims to chat through messaging or dating apps to establish romantic or ambiguous relationships to "enrich" each other; then they use a variety of reasons, including false investment opportunities, to demand huge sums of money. Send money and drain their assets.
(The United States was defrauded of 2.6 billion magnesium a year! Transnational pig-killing scam: Chinese businessmen are connected to Southeast Asia’s cryptocurrency financial flow network)
Changes in fraud trends: The rise of pig killing dishes
Fraud harvest date sharply shortened
The Chainalysis report shows that with the strengthening of law enforcement capabilities and tightening of regulations in various countries, cryptocurrency criminals have gradually abandoned Ponzi schemes that require a lot of effort and time to operate, and have turned to "killing pig scams" that are quickly harvested.
The figure above shows that the lifespan and cycle of fraud have been shortened year by year, from 271 days in 2020 to 42 days in 2024.
At the same time, they have also turned to using new wallets to conceal their financial flows. According to statistics, 43% of fraud revenue flowed into newly active wallets this year, showing that the number of wallets used for new fraudulent activities continues to surge.
Scammers’ new strategy: synchronize on-chain and off-chain
In addition, they also found that fraudsters are quickly adapting and adopting on-chain and off-chain strategies, using new encrypted wallets and multiple social media accounts to conduct short-term but highly efficient fraud activities.
According to statistics, fraudsters purchased social media accounts and used them in "pig-killing" activities. The financial flow related to the purchase of social media accounts in two years was worth more than 10 million US dollars:
In order to avoid detection, many fraudsters will repeat or run multiple smaller fraud activities simultaneously to maintain the operation of the overall fraud organization.
Centralized institutions still effective in combating illegal operations
Eric Jardine, director of cybercrime research at Chainalysis, said that these disruption measures allow criminals to replace their infrastructure more quickly and make it more difficult to trace on the chain:
However, just because it's harder to track and harder to shut down doesn't mean it can't be done, and the record of law enforcement and asset recovery remains inspiring. "
It is reported that crypto companies including stablecoin issuer Tether, cryptocurrency exchange Binance and OKX are actively blocking or restricting illegal activities and funds.
(Combating "Pig Killing Plate" relationship fraud! Tether and OKX teamed up with the U.S. Department of Justice to freeze US$225 million in USDT)
Victim group analysis: Elderly people need to be careful
Eric Jardine also provided an in-depth analysis of the victim group:
We found that most of them are people who are easy to form relationships with, including the elderly, people in transitional stages of life, and people seeking online friendships or romantic relationships.
("For our future, we need to invest in Bitcoin." A 60-year-old woman in Keelung narrowly escaped emotional fraud)
Huione Guarantee: Large financial platforms become a shield for fraudsters
Chainalysis finally cited Huione Guarantee (original Chinese name: Huiwang Guarantee), a financial platform operated by the Cambodian conglomerate Huione Group, which was kicked out by the on-chain tracking team Elliptic last month.
Huione Guarantee previous official website description
It is reported that the company is suspected of laundering money together with Southeast Asian online fraudsters, handling up to 49 billion US dollars in illegal cash flow, and connecting buyers and sellers through platforms such as Telegram.
They revealed that Huione ostensibly operates overseas remittance, insurance and luxury travel businesses, but its funds are privately involved in a large number of illegal activities involving cryptocurrency:
Huione guarantee has developed into a huge ecosystem, providing support for the rampant "pig killing, investment fraud and money laundering activities" in Southeast Asia.
This article: Pig-killing plate gradually replaces Ponzi scheme as the major fraud! Chainalysis: Harvesting in just over a month first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.
