FBI Shuts Down Online 'Pig Butchering' Cryptocurrency Investment Scam

SAN DIEGO, CA — As a result of an investigation by the FBI San Diego Field Office, federal authorities have seized and shut down a web domain used to target and defraud Americans through cryptocurrency investment fraud scams, officials said.

More than 400 San Diegans were among the victims of the Southeast Asia-based crypto investment fraud scheme, commonly called "pig butchering," according to the FBI.

The victims suffered an estimated cumulative loss of approximately $90 million in the 2024 fiscal year, FBI officials said. However, investigators believe that figure to be a fraction of the total scope of losses, given that many victims do not report their losses to law enforcement.

The shuttered web domain, tickmilleas.com, had been used by scammers based at a compound called Tai Chang, also known as Casino Kosai, in the village of Kyaukhat, Myanmar, according to the FBI. The domain seizure took place less than three weeks after the announcement of the launch of the Scam Center Strike Force and the seizure of two other domains also used by the Tai Chang scam compound.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the domain seizure, Tai Chang is affiliated with the Burmese armed group Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and Trans Asia International Holding Group Thailand Company Limited. Both groups were designated by the Department of the Treasury as "specially-designated nationals" on Nov. 12 for their alleged links to Chinese organized crime and development of scam centers in Southeast Asia.

The tickmilleas.com domain was disguised as a legitimate investment platform to trick people into depositing funds, according to officials. Victims reported to the FBI that the site showed lucrative returns on what they believed to be their investments and displayed purported deposits made by scammers to the victims' accounts.

According to the affidavit, the site directed users to download mobile applications from Google Play and the Apple App Store. The FBI notified Google and Apple of the fraudulent apps, and they voluntarily removed several of them from their stores.

The Scam Center Strike Force also worked with Meta to identify accounts associated with the Tai Chang compound, according to the FBI. Meta voluntarily removed about 2,000 accounts as part of the collaborative effort.

The FBI urged anyone who has been defrauded out of their money by a crypto investment fraud scam to submit a complaint to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. Anyone who was directed to use tickmilleas.com as part of a scheme should reference "tickmilleas.com" in their complaint.