The foreign company that assisted criminals in stealing $200 million from hardworking Americans through cryptocurrency scams was finally targeted by the Biden administration. Sanctions from the Treasury Department reveal how Chinese criminals and human traffickers are conducting intricate schemes against American citizens, casting doubt on our government’s capacity to defend Americans’ financial stability against external dangers.
Foreign Criminals Target American Savings
The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Funnull Technology, a Philippines-based company operated by Chinese national Liu Lizhi, for its central role in facilitating cryptocurrency “pig butchering” scams. These sophisticated fraud operations have stolen over $200 million from American victims, with the average person losing a staggering $150,000 of their hard-earned money.
The FBI has released a FLASH report to provide technical details associated with Funnull Technology Inc., a company that provides infrastructure for thousands of websites linked to cryptocurrency investment fraud, often referred to as “pig butchering” https://t.co/3VPFnYncVJ pic.twitter.com/Q0yBL2E6uN
— FBI (@FBI) May 29, 2025
Funnull’s business model involves purchasing IP addresses in bulk and selling them to cybercriminals who use them to host fraudulent investment websites targeting Americans. According to the FBI, Funnull is connected to most virtual currency investment scam websites reported to law enforcement, demonstrating the massive scale of this foreign-operated criminal enterprise.
Human Trafficking Fuels Scam Operations
The Treasury’s investigation revealed these scams are run by Southeast Asian organized crime syndicates using human trafficking victims as forced labor. These criminal operations, primarily based in countries with weak governance and high corruption, force victims to work in “scam compounds” where they target Americans with elaborate social engineering schemes.
🐷💔 Have you heard of a "pig butchering" scam? It’s not about farming: scammers use online romance to lure victims into fake crypto investments, then vanish with the cash pic.twitter.com/kpyTJnIP1c
— Hopes (@0xhopes) May 26, 2025
Scammers create fictitious identities and storylines, often under the guise of romantic interest, to manipulate victims into investing in fake cryptocurrency platforms. The criminals show victims fabricated investment returns on sophisticated-looking websites created using Funnull’s infrastructure, continuing to extract more money until the victim stops investing or becomes suspicious.
Government Action Too Little, Too Late
The sanctions represent a belated attempt to address a problem that has already cost Americans hundreds of millions. In 2024, Funnull even altered code to redirect visitors from legitimate websites to scam and gambling sites in a sophisticated supply chain attack called “Polyfill,” showing how these criminal enterprises continue to evolve and target vulnerable Americans.
“Today’s action underscores our focus on disrupting the criminal enterprises, like Funnull, that enable these cyber scams and deprive Americans of their hard-earned savings,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender.
Cybersecurity experts welcome the sanctions but emphasize that much more needs to be done to protect Americans from foreign financial threats. “Global threat actors targeting Americans with financial scams need to be held accountable, and doxing the companies they work with and the individuals who run those companies is an important first step,” said researcher Zach Edwards from cybersecurity firm Silent Push.
Sources:
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/29/us-government-sanctions-tech-company-involved-in-cyber-scams/