US citizen files lawsuit over pig butchering crypto scam

A US citizen has filed a lawsuit for losing $2.1 million in Bitcoin tokens in what he believes was a pig slaughter scam orchestrated by a Southeast Asian crime syndicate.

According to a statement made on October 3, Hector Gustav Gutierrez filed a lawsuit against Yan Shi Zhang, also known as “1,” in the California District Court, alleging a “pork butchering” scam that cost him 33 Bitcoins (BTC). approximately US$2.1 million.

Kiley Grombacher, an attorney representing Gutierrez, explained that her client was involved in a pig slaughter scam involving fake crypto investments operated from Southeast Asia.

The criminal organization allegedly set up fake websites of real crypto exchange platforms. Scammers used these websites to lure victims, simulate trading, and steal their victims’ funds on crypto exchanges.

“Thousands of people have lost their life savings, including our client who was forced to wonder how he would pay basic living expenses after working tirelessly his entire life to build a significant nest egg,” Grombacher said in an email to crypto.news.

According to Grombacher, his client met Yan Shi Zhang’s nephew through LinkedIn in September 2023. Zhang promised to teach Grombacher how to succeed in crypto trading.

Based on Gutierrez’s testimony, Zhang claimed to have ties to an investment firm working with Binance and showed him examples of successful high returns from his own cryptocurrency trading ventures.

Grombacher claimed that Zhang convinced Gutierrez to sign up for U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken without knowing that the website was actually fake.

Gutierrez used his life savings and all of his retirement funds to buy Bitcoin, which he then converted to Tether (USDT) on the fake website. This resulted in a loss of 33 BTC or $2.1 million.

“It is absolutely sickening that this type of fraud has such a global reach,” Grombacher said.

In 2023, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 69,000 reports of financial fraud involving cryptocurrencies, according to an FBI report released Sept. 9. The bureau found that Americans lost $5.6 billion to crypto scams in 2023.