LOS ANGELES, California — The United States has just punished a company in the Philippines for helping with a giant online money scam using virtual currency, also called crypto.
The company is called Funnull Technology Inc., and American officials say it helped trick a lot of people into losing money — over $200 million in total!
The US government agencies — the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, and the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) — all released reports on May 29 saying that Funnull was part of this scam.
They also named a man behind the scenes: Liu Lizhi, a Chinese citizen who worked as an administrator (someone who runs the system) for the company. He was punished too.
💰 What Did They Do Wrong?
Funnull was giving computer help to websites that looked like they offered smart ways to invest money, but were actually fake. These websites tricked people into putting in their money — and then stole it.
This type of scam even has a nickname: “Pig Butchering.”
Sounds weird, right? But here’s why it’s called that:
👉 Scammers act like they’re friendly, slowly gaining your trust — like “fattening up a pig.”
👉 Then, when you think everything is going well, they take all your money — like “butchering the pig.”
The US says Funnull helped build and run many of these tricky websites that did exactly that to thousands of people.
📉 Who Got Hurt?
According to the US State Department, people in the United States lost over $200 million because of these scams. That’s over ₱11 billion pesos! Some people even lost over $150,000 each — that’s like losing a big house or a lifetime of savings!
🛑 What’s Happening Now?
Because of what they did, Funnull and Liu Lizhi are now sanctioned — that means:
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The US is freezing any money they have in American banks
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They’re not allowed to do business with people or companies in the US
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Their names are now on a list of people to watch out for
The US government said it will keep going after cybercriminals who use the internet to steal money, and they’ll make sure to protect their people from scams.
💡 What Can We Learn?
Be very careful with websites or people online who ask you to invest money or buy crypto. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is! Always check if the company is real, and never send money to strangers online.
