The Australian Federal Police has detained four individuals in connection with a scam they claim has netted more than $100 million worldwide after receiving a tip from the US Secret Service.
The scam, which is sometimes referred to as “pig butchering,” utilises social engineering to capture the trust of the target before leading them into dubious transactions.
The practise of con artists fattening up their victims before killing them is known as “pig butchering.”
The victims are driven to cryptocurrency and foreign exchange investment applications that are both fraudulent and legitimate but have been intentionally modified to display a falsely good return on investment, according to a statement from the AFP.
In order to stimulate more investment while hiding the fact that their money has really been stolen, the gang enlists victims to sign up for a financial investment service and manipulates the data provided through the official application.
The AFP and NSW Police jointly initiated Operation Wickham after the Secret Service alerted the Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre in August.
According to the AFP, it has frozen $22.5 million from 24 bank accounts that are thought to be connected to the cartel.
The four men are accused of opening bank accounts to hide the proceeds of the scheme and filing corporations with ASIC to assist make the fraud appear legal.
On October 20, two of the individuals were detained, and they are now facing charges of carelessly handling criminal proceeds.
The other two males are accused of trading in the profits of crime and were apprehended on November 24 at airports in Sydney and Melbourne while allegedly attempting to board flights to Hong Kong.
Before January 2023, the guys will next make an appearance in Sydney’s Downing Center Court.