California Man Sues Alleged “Pig Butchering” Scammers for 7K in Stolen Crypto

California Man Sues Alleged “Pig Butchering” Scammers for $317K in Stolen Crypto

News | August 20, 2024 By:

On Tuesday, August 6, 2024, Seyed Majid Sadegi filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Central District of California alleging he fell victim to a sophisticated global cryptocurrency fraud scheme.

In his complaint, Sadegi claims that in September 2022, he was initially contacted by an individual who identified herself as “Anna,” a Taiwanese woman. “Anna” built a rapport with Sadegi over the phone and WhatsApp messages, claiming she had success trading cryptocurrencies and could teach Sadegi to do the same. “Anna” told Sadegi about a trading platform called BankCEX that she said was legitimate.

To test the platform, “Anna” had Sadegi transfer around $7,000 worth of cryptocurrency from his account on legitimate crypto exchange Crypto.com to BankCEX, and he was able to transfer it back, believing the platform was real. However, BankCEX was actually a fake website designed to steal users’ funds. “Anna” provided false trading statements showing large profits to convince Sadegi to transfer more of his cryptocurrency holdings from Crypto.com.

When Sadegi later tried to withdraw the funds, he discovered he could not access his crypto. “Anna” then told him he needed to deposit additional funds of $115,000 for “taxes and fees.” It was then that Sadegi realized he had been defrauded. In total, Sadegi alleges “Anna” and her unnamed co-conspirators stole 194,794 USD Coin, 113,958 Tether, and 2.54 Ethereum from him, worth around $317,000 at the time of filing.

Through blockchain analysis, Sadegi claims to have traced the stolen funds’ movement to numerous cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges allegedly controlled by “Anna” and her accomplices. The complaint names these wallets and exchanges as defendants, including Gate.io, Kraken, Binance, Circle, Crypto.com, OKX, and others.

The complaint accuses the defendants of racketeering, alleging their scheme constitutes a global cryptocurrency fraud operation. Additional claims of conversion, unjust enrichment, and conspiracy are also made. Sadegi is seeking damages of at least triple the stolen funds’ present value under RICO statutes.

Please contact BlockTribune for access to a copy of this filing.