US Sanctions Company Accused of Aiding 'Pig Butchering' Scams

So, get this: the U.S. Treasury just put the smackdown on a company in the Philippines called Funnull Technology Inc. Why? Because they're saying Funnull is basically the internet backbone for all these crazy online money scams, the ones they call 'pig butchering'. These scams are seriously messed up.

The Treasury folks dropped the news on Thursday, saying Funnull was buying up tons of internet addresses and then selling them to cybercriminals. Like, seriously? They also sanctioned this guy named Liu Lizhi, who they say runs Funnull. Nobody could find contact info for this Liu guy right away, but the Treasury said he's 40 and has links to addresses in China. And yeah, Reuters tried to get a comment from Funnull, but crickets. They couldn't even find the company in the Philippines' business records. Hmmmm.

These virtual currency scams, where people get tricked into putting money into fake crypto stuff, are a huge deal – like, a billion-dollar problem. Big time organized crime is running them, and guess what? Human trafficking is fueling it. These scams use totally fake websites to rip people off. Earlier this year, some cybersecurity researchers found that Funnull was linked to a whole bunch of these bogus sites, plus tons of others that looked like they were for illegal gambling or washing money. Gross.

These 'pig butchering' scams started in China, but now they're targeting people everywhere. Last year, a company that looks at blockchain stuff said that the money coming from these scams hit a record high. They think it's getting worse partly because scammers are using AI now to make their pitches sound better and talk to way more people at once. Wild, right? It makes you wonder, what other shady stuff is AI going to be used for?