Pig-butchering schemes have scaled into a multibillion-dollar criminal industry, according to a new report by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic cited by CoinDesk.
The study describes increasingly organized laundering workflows that resemble professional financial operations and exploit gaps across platforms and jurisdictions, the news outlet reported.
Elliptic’s investigators say scam operators typically pool victims’ deposits into purpose-built, self-hosted wallets used only to consolidate and move funds. From there, proceeds are routed through dense chains of transactions designed to obscure origin, often hopping across chains via bridges or passing through payment processors to add a veneer of legitimacy.
A recurring feature is the use of mule accounts at regulated exchanges: clusters of accounts that share red flags such as identical residential addresses, repeated IP logins, and patterned transfers between related accounts. KYC photo submissions suggest some operators work from call centers or warehouse-style floors in Southeast Asian countries linked to pig-butchering rings, the report notes.
Elliptic emphasizes that blockchains leave visible trails, giving exchanges and regulators tools to identify suspicious flows even as scammers refine their methods.
The firm also warns that pig butchering is one part of a wider threat landscape. Individuals facing official sanctions are increasingly turning to stablecoins for cross-border transfers, raising fresh compliance challenges around sanctions screening and transaction monitoring at scale.
Read more at CoinDesk
Find the Elliptic Typologies Report here