{"id":2528,"date":"2025-08-28T10:54:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T10:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/crypto-companies-freeze-47m-in-romance-baiting-funds\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T10:54:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T10:54:19","slug":"crypto-companies-freeze-47m-in-romance-baiting-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/crypto-companies-freeze-47m-in-romance-baiting-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Companies Freeze $47m in Romance Baiting Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Several cryptocurrency companies have come together to prevent nearly $50m stolen via \u201cromance baiting\u201d (pig butchering) scammers reaching its intended destination.<\/p>\n

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said it teamed up with crypto-exchanges Binance and OKX and stablecoin Tether to seize the funds.<\/p>\n

Chainalysis used its investigations tooling to identify several addresses associated with a romance baiting operation based in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

These campaigns typically combine romance and investment fraud: vulnerable individuals are approached on dating sites, before being groomed by scammers, and then persuaded to invest in some kind of investment scam.<\/p>\n

Read more on romance baiting: Interpol Calls for an End to \u201cPig Butchering\u201d Terminology<\/em><\/p>\n

Chainalysis identified five wallets used by the scammers to receive payments from hundreds of victims\u2019 wallets \u2013 some of which sent over $1m between November 2022 and July 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce funds were transferred, scammers then sent proceeds to a consolidation wallet which transferred $46.9m in USDT [Tether] to a collection of three intermediary addresses. The funds then moved to five different wallets,\u201d Chainalysis explained.<\/p>\n

Tether subsequently shared the investigation\u2019s findings with an APAC law enforcement agency and froze the funds in June 2024 at its direction.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear why it took so long to publicize these efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike other cryptocurrencies like ether and bitcoin, Tether has the technical ability to freeze known illicit funds,\u201d Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, told Chainalysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are dedicated to working with law enforcement agencies worldwide to freeze funds associated with pig butchering scams and all manner of illicit activity, with the ultimate goal of providing restitution for victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s not the first operation of its kind. In November 2023, Tether and OKX announced that they had collaborated with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to\u00a0freeze around $225m in USDT linked to an international human trafficking syndicate in Southeast Asia responsible for romance scams.<\/p>\n

Romance Baiting on the Rise<\/h2>\n

Romance baiting is an increasingly popular way for cybercriminals to make money. A Chainalysis report from February revealed that associated losses rose 40% year-on-year (YoY) in 2024 to comprise a third of total crypto fraud revenue.<\/p>\n

It added that the number of deposits to romance baiting scammers increased 210% YoY in 2024, indicating a growing number of victims.<\/p>\n

In March, the\u00a0US authorities and blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs announced they had seized $8.2m headed for romance baiting scammers.<\/p>\n

The crime is often carried out by trafficked individuals imprisoned in large compounds in Southeast Asia. It is also made possible by online marketplaces like Huione Guarantee,\u00a0which has processed\u00a0more than $49bn\u00a0in cryptocurrency transactions since 2021,\u00a0according to Chainalysis.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several cryptocurrency companies have come together to prevent nearly $50m stolen via \u201cromance baiting\u201d (pig butchering) scammers reaching its intended destination. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said it teamed up with crypto-exchanges Binance and OKX and stablecoin Tether to seize the funds. Chainalysis used its investigations tooling to identify several addresses associated with a romance baiting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03.jpg",300,300,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03.jpg",300,300,false],"medium_large":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03.jpg",300,300,false],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03.jpg",300,300,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03.jpg",300,300,false],"morenews-featured":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03.jpg",300,300,false],"morenews-large":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03.jpg",300,300,false],"morenews-medium":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03.jpg",300,300,false],"crawlomatic_preview_image":["http:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2528-ba1ffd84-bf65-4f83-aa32-9b01c9b49b03-146x146.jpg",146,146,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"henry","author_link":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/author\/henry\/"},"category_info":"Uncategorized<\/a>","tag_info":"Uncategorized","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}