Massachusetts federal prosecutors have filed a lawsuit seeking to recover 327,829.72 USDT involved in a cryptocurrency scam through a dating app. The suspect used the fake identity "Linda Brown" to lure victims into investing, and the victims discovered they had been scammed after withdrawal attempts failed. The case highlights the increasing vigilance of U.S. regulators against romance-related crypto scams.

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia announced that the Special Task Force of the Fraud Center has frozen and seized over $580 million in cryptocurrency, primarily from scam networks in Southeast Asia. The task force is dedicated to combating transnational "pig-butchering" scams and will do its best to return the funds to the victims.

On February 25, the U.S. federal prosecutors announced the successful seizure of over $61 million in USDT. This funds are believed to be related to large-scale cryptocurrency "pig butchering" investment scams. According to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, law enforcement officials tracked blockchain fund flows to identify a series of suspected money laundering crypto wallets. These wallets hold assets derived from victims of crypto romance scams who were deceived. The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations. Agents traced the victims' transfer paths to identify wallet accounts still holding substantial balances and initiated seizure and forfeiture procedures in accordance with the law. U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle stated that this seizure demonstrates law enforcement's increased efforts to crack down on the crypto scam money chain, especially targeting cross-border fund transfers and multi-layer address obfuscation used in money laundering.

The Eastern District of North Carolina Prosecutor's Office in the United States has seized over $61 million worth of USDT related to "pig-butchering" crypto scams. Criminals disguise themselves as romantic partners to lure victims into investing in fake crypto trading platforms, ultimately extracting funds through various excuses.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that 31-year-old Chinese national Liao Fei was sentenced to 40 months in prison for involvement in cryptocurrency investment scams and money laundering. He is also required to pay back over $2.3 million and compensate victims with $2.8 million. He and his accomplices carried out the so-called "pig-butchering" scams through shell companies.

Gate News bot message, according to the official Gate announcement Gate has decided to delist trading markets for 19 tokens after evaluation. The tokens involved in the delisting include DEGOD, DOAI, AIAGENT, KARATE, THN, ONC, MINE, PAIN, MONG, ETHS, MAGA, SRM, CKP, FOMO, HIVP, UNCOMMONGOODS, CULT, SGB, and PIG. All corresponding trading pairs are the tokens paired with USDT. Gate has suspended deposits for these tokens and will pause their trading services, including related spot trading pairs and quantitative grid, at 11:00 ( UTC+8 on February 15, 2026. After March 2, 2026, users who still hold these tokens on the Gate platform can apply for buyback. The buyback prices vary by token, with a maximum individual compensation limit of 100 USDT, and PIG tokens are not included in this buyback. Users must submit buyback requests between 00:00 ) UTC+8 on March 2, 2026, and 00:00 ( UTC+8 on March 9, 2026. After delisting, the Gate platform will still serve as a wallet for these tokens. The specific delisting time for wallet functions will be announced separately.

Beijing man Su Jingliang was sentenced to 46 months in prison for participating in "pig-butchering" telecom fraud and money laundering, and was ordered to pay $26.87 million in compensation. He lured victims through social media to invest in fake cryptocurrencies, with funds flowing into accounts of multiple shell companies in the United States, then converted into stablecoin USDT and sent to Southeast Asian scam dens.

Gate News bot message, according to the official Gate announcement Gate will disable the new lending feature in unified account spot leverage, margin lending, and isolated margin starting from 16:00 (UTC+8) on January 26, 2026. The affected tokens include CEEK, CTA, EVER, GME, HAI, MAGA, SPS, UNFI, WRX, ALPACA, ART, LL, PIG, RARI, and SEAM, totaling 15 tokens. Users with existing outstanding loans must repay by 16:00 (UTC+8) on January 27, 2026. If not handled in time, the system will automatically execute repayment at that time. This adjustment does not affect spot trading functions.

By 2025, cryptocurrency scams will become a $14 billion annual crime industry, with AI tools boosting scam efficiency. Groups using AI can average $3.2 million per scam, compared to $719,000 for those not using AI, with a significant difference in losses. Common pig-butchering scams establish emotional connections through social platforms,诱导 victims into fake trading platforms, causing substantial losses.

January 14 News, the latest report released by blockchain data analysis firm Chainalysis shows a "concerning trend" in the cryptocurrency space by 2025: the number of impersonation scams has surged approximately 1400% year-over-year, becoming one of the fastest-growing types of scams, while the average loss per scam has also increased significantly. Overall, impersonation scams have become one of the core risks in the current crypto security landscape. Impersonation scams refer to malicious actors disguising themselves as trusted individuals, official institutions, or well-known platforms to induce users to transfer funds through social engineering tactics or to steal sensitive information such as private keys and account permissions. Chainalysis points out that an increasing number of investment scams and "pig-bumping" schemes are beginning to combine with impersonation techniques, forming highly complex fraud patterns.