UK Sanctions Xinbi’s $20B Crypto Pipeline for Pig Butchering Scams

The UK government has imposed fresh sanctions on Xinbi, a Chinese-language cryptocurrency marketplace. Notably, this follows after the platform was accused of playing a central role in facilitating online fraud known as pig butchering scams.

According to UK authorities, Xinbi is one of the largest illegal marketplaces in Southeast Asia, which provides cryptocurrency-based services to scam centers, including #8 Park. For context, ‘#8 Park’ is a facility recently identified as Cambodia’s largest scam compound. It accommodates up to 20,000 trafficked workers.

UK Authorities Dismantle Xinbi

Scam centers often hire trafficked foreign nationals to carry out their fraudulent activities. Usually, they lure their workers with legitimate job offers. After getting in, however, the facilities coerce them to perpetuate online fraud under exploitative conditions.

Xinbi provided a marketplace for these illicit services and a channel for laundering billions of dollars in crypto funds. By sanctioning the platform, the UK government isolates it from legitimate marketplaces.

Additionally, they aim to protect British nationals from crypto fraud and prevent the exploitation of trafficked workers. Meanwhile, this move comes ahead of the UK’s Illicit Finance Summit in June. Speaking on the sanction, the Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, stated:

“We will not allow British people to become victims of these dreadful scams or tolerate the awful human rights abuses perpetrated in these scam centers. We must keep up the pressure on dirty money and those who benefit from it.”

Rising Risks of Pig Butchering Scams

Pig butchering scam is among the most successful methods fraudsters employ in the crypto scene. This is because it combines emotional manipulation with financial deception.

It usually involves leveraging the long-term trust of potential victims. Scammers might lure their victims into fake romantic relationships to siphon their money.

Over the years, many have lost significant funds to these scams, prompting intervention from government authorities. Recently, CoinTab detailed how the U.S. authorities seized over $61 million in cryptocurrency tied to pig butchering scams.

Get Trending Crypto News as It Happens. Follow CoinTab News on X (Twitter) Now