Vietnamese man charged in $16 million 'pig butchering' crypto scam

A Vietnamese national was charged with money laundering for his role in a massive "pig butchering" scam, which defrauded a victim out of $16 million worth of cryptocurrency.

37-year-old Trung Nguyen Van entered the United States through the San Ysidro, California / Mexico pedestrian border entry point on September 22 and was arrested before boarding a flight to Taiwan out of Los Angeles International Airport on September 24.

One of Van's victims transferred about $16 million in cryptocurrency between June and August 2024 in transfers directly traceable to Van's cryptocurrency wallet, believing they were investing in a crypto investment platform called "Triangle."

After collecting the funds, the defendant transferred them to a private, unhosted crypto wallet off the centralized blockchain network.

According to court documents, the charges stem from a broader wire fraud scheme involving more than $125,000,000 in cryptocurrency, with Van's crypto wallet receiving over $53 million between February 2018 and December 2024, including at least $24 million in crypto assets linked to known "pig butchering" schemes.

"From Feb. 9, 2018, through Dec. 17, 2024, Van's cryptocurrency wallets received approximately $53,275,939 in cryptocurrency assets from wire fraud schemes targeting United States citizens. The wallet transferred approximately $53,188,466 worth of the same cryptocurrency assets to other accounts off the centralized blockchain network," the Department of Justice said.

"Each of the victims were instructed to transfer cryptocurrency to different websites, but each victim reported a similar story. In each of these schemes, victims were guided by an individual they met online to invest cryptocurrency in a specified 'website' with a promise of high financial returns. Ultimately, each victim was never able to withdraw funds they invested and eventually discovered they had been defrauded."

In pig butchering scams (also known as cryptocurrency investment scams or romance baiting), fraudsters reach out to targets via social media, dating sites, and messaging apps, build trust, and then lure victims into fake investment schemes. However, instead of investing the funds, scammers steal the money by moving it into crypto accounts under their control.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in its 2025 Internet Crime Report that Americans lost almost $21 billion to cyber-enabled crimes last year, with investment scams accounting for 49% of all scam-related incidents and resulting in $8.6 billion in losses.

In February, a Chinese national was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia for his role in an international pig butchering scheme that defrauded victims of more than $73 million, months after U.S. federal authorities established a task force that aims to disrupt Chinese cryptocurrency scam networks known as the Scam Center Strike Force team.