The United States Treasury, the agency responsible for managing the financial policy of the United States and the issuance of federal debt, has sanctioned a technology firm based in the Philippines accused of providing infrastructure for cryptocurrency scams known as “Pork Carnage”, which have cost us to the victims of the United States at least $ 200 million.
SANCTIONS TO THE FILIPINA COMPANY
Funnull Technology Inc., based in the Philippines, was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Treasury. The regulator also sanctioned Liu Lizhi, Chinese citizen and alleged administrator of the company.
Supposedly, Funnull bought bulk IP addresses and resigned them to cybercriminals.
According to Ofac, there are two directions of cryptographic wallet, which are based on Ethereum and Tron networks, linked to the funnull that were added to the list of specially designated nationals of the Treasury. These wallet addresses allegedly received payments for the web services used in the scams.
The United States Treasury accused Funnull of supporting fraudulent websites linked to organized cyber crime. These sites were used to deceive investors through false platforms that mimic legitimate financial services.
Funnull connections
The regulator emphasized that Funnull housed sites that included false commercial applications, investment scams and game services. The scams are associated with the “Triad Nexo”, a network of more than 200,000 domains.
A blockchain analysis also showed that Funnull cryptographic wallets had exposure to the payment of Huione, identified by US authorities as an important money laundering platform.
“Funnull Technology Inc. enabled cybercriminals buying IP addresses in bulk from the main cloud service providers and selling them to fraudulent investment platform operators.”
Chain equipment
Huione Pay is linked to a Filipino case that involves the murder of multimillionaire Anson that after his family paid the rescue through cryptocurrency.
At the time of writing this article, the United States government, together with cybersecurity researchers, promised to continue tracing these activities and issue notices.
Pork butcher shop tactics
Pork carnage scams, which originated in China, trust people to make false cryptographic investments. Scammers are known for using false investment applications and websites to look credible.
These scams now often use generative AI tools to improve their scope, and victims usually attract through social networks or appointment applications.
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This is a development story: Breaking: US sanctions
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