---
title: "Crypto Company Says Oops, Its Coin Was Being Used in a Human Trafficking Scam"
description: "A crypto company is working with the feds after an investigation revealed that millions of dollars worth of its coins were being used for human trafficking."
date: "2023-11-22"
modified: "2023-11-22"
authors:
  - name: "Noor Al-Sibai"
    job_title: "Senior Staff Writer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/crypto-human-trafficking-scam"
categories:
  - "Blockchain"
  - "Cryptocurrency"
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "pig butchering"
  - "scams"
  - "stablecoins"
  - "the digest"
---

# Crypto Company Says Oops, Its Coin Was Being Used in a Human Trafficking Scam

![A crypto company is working with the feds after an investigation revealed that millions of dollars worth of its coins were being used for human trafficking.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/crypto-human-trafficking-scam.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Justin Tallis / AFP via Getty / Futurism\</em\>*

## Deep Dive

A crypto company is working with the feds after an investigation revealed that millions of dollars worth of its coins were being used for human trafficking.

In a [press release](<https://tether.to/en/following-investigations-by-tether-okx-and-the-us-department-of-justice-tether-voluntarily-freezes-225m-in-stolen-usdt-linked-to-international-crime-syndicate/>), the people behind the stablecoin Tether, whose value is pegged to the US dollar, explained that the company was forced to freeze $225 million worth of its own tokens after the Department of Justice investigation linked it to an international human trafficking syndicate out of Southeast Asia.

The DOJ has also, [per its own statement](<https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/cyber-scam-organization-disrupted-through-seizure-nearly-9m-crypto>), seized $9 million of Tether from the company as it investigates what is known as a "pig butchering" scam.

The term "pig butchering," as [many outlets](<https://www.propublica.org/article/whats-a-pig-butchering-scam-heres-how-to-avoid-falling-victim-to-one>) [have explained](<https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/high-tech-pig-butchering-cryptocurrency-scam-duping-victims-out-of-billions/>), is a play on "fattening the pig" before slaughter, and involves scammers — in this case, [trafficked people forced into the scheme](<https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/08/30/1078663/pig-butchering-scam-human-trafficking/>) — luring people in with promises of huge returns on investment, having them deposit cash into what seem like legitimate crypto wallets, and then cutting them off from the accounts that the scammers had controlled the whole time.

Honeypotting people out of their hard-earned money is nothing new — but the means of labor in pig butchering scams add an additional layer of corruption to the entire endeavor.

## Love Lockdown

As *ProPublica* [explained in its exposé](<https://tether.to/en/following-investigations-by-tether-okx-and-the-us-department-of-justice-tether-voluntarily-freezes-225m-in-stolen-usdt-linked-to-international-crime-syndicate/>) on the scam last year, the architects of these scams are creating fake identities to lure unsuspecting victims in, [often using romance as a ruse](<https://www.wired.com/story/love-loss-and-pig-butchering-scams/>).

But oddly enough, the scammers may also be victims themselves. As [*ProPublica*](<https://www.propublica.org/article/human-traffickers-force-victims-into-cyberscamming>) and [*Vice*](<https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zb5d/pig-butchering-scam-cambodia-trafficking>) both reported last year, many of the scammers had been misled with bait-and-switch job offers themselves and forced to work in scam sweatshops in countries like Cambodia, Laos, or Myanmar.

Tether is far from the first cryptocurrency used in this type of scam. A year ago to the day, the [DOJ announced](<https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/court-authorizes-seizure-domains-used-furtherance-cryptocurrency-pig-butchering-scheme>) that it had seized fake domains that spoofed real ones from Singapore's financial markets as part of another pig butchering scam. This year, the department [seized $112 million worth of crypto](<https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/justice-dept-seizes-over-112m-funds-linked-cryptocurrency-investment-schemes-over-half>) in a case based out of Los Angeles.

Notably, however, Tether appears to be the first crypto company to announce that it was working with federal investigators and voluntarily freezing its own funds. It's rare, especially in the [wake of FTX](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/sec-chair-approves-ftx-reboot>), to want to laud a crypto company, but so long as we don't learn Tether was complicit in these schemes, we do have to hand it to them.

**More on crypto scammers:** [*Crypto Mining Rig Discovered Under Floor of Courthouse, Stealing Power*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/crypto-mining-polish-court>)

## Author
At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/noorfromfuturism.bsky.social>)