US Man Files $2.1 Million Cryptocurrency Scam Lawsuit
Date: 2024-10-03 Author: Henry Casey Categories: IN WORLD
A US cryptocurrency owner, Hector Gustav Gutierrez, has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court of California against Yan Shi Zhang, also known as “1”, for a cryptocurrency scam that saw him lose 33 bitcoins worth about $2.1 million.
Gutierrez’s attorney, Kylie Grombacher, explained that her client was the victim of a scam known as a “pig fattening scheme.” The scam was allegedly organized by a Southeast Asian crime group.
The criminals created fake websites that mimicked real cryptocurrency exchanges. They used them to trick victims into trading successfully and steal their funds.
“Thousands of people have lost their savings, including our client, who now has no idea how to cover his basic living expenses after spending years building a financial cushion,” Grombacher told crypto.news in an email.
According to Grombacher, her client met Zhang’s niece on LinkedIn in September 2023. Zhang promised to teach Gutierrez how to trade cryptocurrency markets successfully.
Based on Gutierrez’s testimony, Zhang claimed to have connections to an investment firm partnered with Binance and showed examples of his successful trades. Zhang convinced Gutierrez to sign up for a supposedly U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange called Kraken, which turned out to be a scam.
Gutierrez invested his retirement savings in bitcoin, which he later transferred to Tether through a fake website. As a result, he lost 33 bitcoins, which is about $2.1 million.
“It is extremely outrageous that such a scheme has reached a global scale,” Grombacher emphasized.
According to the FBI report of September 9, 2023, the Internet Crime Center received more than 69,000 reports of financial fraud involving cryptocurrencies. In 2023, Americans lost $5.6 billion in such schemes.
