Four individuals are facing charges in connection with the alleged ‘pig slaughter’ scam, authorities revealed on Thursday.
Three are from Southern California and one is from the Chicago suburbs.
The scheme reportedly defrauded victims of more than $80 million.
‘Pig slaughter’ conspiracy revealed
‘Pig slaughter’ comes from the Chinese word ‘Xiajufan’, which means that the scam is becoming more and more severe.
According to federal prosecutors in Los Angeles, the defendants used this method, which included phone calls through dating apps and various social media platforms.
They began contacting potential victims and gradually gained their trust before introducing the concept of investing in cryptocurrency as a business opportunity.
The tactic, which US authorities call a “pig butchering” scheme, is described as building Mark’s trust before carrying out the theft of funds.
Typically, scammers initiate contact with victims through unsolicited messages or phone calls, sometimes masquerading as innocent “wrong number” contacts.
Federal authorities noted that these interactions would develop into seemingly harmless friendships with the victims.
Afterwards, victims encounter other scammers promoting fraudulent cryptocurrency platforms and urging them to invest.
After funds are transferred, false profits encourage further investments, leading to irrecoverable losses.
Defendants and Charges
The government has identified four defendants in the case.
These include Lu Zhang, a 36-year-old woman from Alhambra, California, and three male co-defendants: Justin Walker, 31, of Cypress, California; Joseph Wong, 32, of Rosemead, California; Hailong Zhu, 40, from Naperville, Illinois.
All four were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, concealed money laundering and international money laundering.
As stated in the press release:
They transferred funds to domestic and foreign financial institutions. The overall fraud scheme of the involved pig slaughter syndicate involved at least 284 transactions and resulted in victims losing more than $80 million. More than $20 million of the victims’ funds were deposited directly into bank accounts associated with the defendants.
If found guilty, Zhang and Walker could face up to 20 years in prison.
As of Thursday afternoon, attorneys representing Zhang and Walker had not immediately responded.
It is unclear whether the other two defendants have secured legal representation to resolve the charges on their behalf.