$16 million sent to a fake platform
Between June and August 2024, the victim gradually transferred approximately $16 million in cryptocurrency to Triangle. The mechanism closely resembles the crypto scam factories already documented by BrefCrypto: a relationship is built online, attractive returns are displayed, and the victim is then encouraged to invest increasingly large amounts.
“Pig butchering” relies precisely on this patience. The fraudster does not immediately ask for a large sum. First, they gain their target’s trust, sometimes through a friendship or romantic relationship, and then steer the victim toward a fake investment platform.
According to the statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, a transfer of more than $569,000 made in August 2024 was directly linked to a wallet attributed to Trung Nguyen Van.
Investigators say some of the funds were then quickly moved to private wallets. Van is now facing two counts of money laundering. He remains presumed innocent: the complaint contains allegations that will have to be established in court.
Wallets allegedly received $53.3 million
The case becomes much larger when the analysis extends beyond Triangle.
Between February 2018 and December 2024, crypto wallets attributed to Van allegedly received approximately $53.28 million from electronic fraud targeting U.S. citizens. Prosecutors say nearly $53.19 million was subsequently transferred to other accounts.
The victim who lost $16 million therefore appears to be only one part of a broader network. Other Americans reported losses of several million dollars through different platforms. Yet the scenario described remains very similar: an online meeting, promises of high returns, a crypto transfer, and then an inability to recover the money.
Washington and London have strengthened their cooperation against these international scam-center networks, some of which operate like genuine criminal enterprises.
However, the $53.3 million figure does not necessarily represent the amount personally stolen by Van. It corresponds to flows that investigators say they linked to fraud and that were received by wallets attributed to him.
The distinction matters.
Pig butchering becomes industrialized
This case is no longer an isolated incident in the crypto ecosystem.
In early September, FinCEN disclosed that it had analyzed 33,904 reports linked to possible digital-asset investment scams between September 2023 and December 2025. Together, they represented approximately $12.7 billion in suspicious financial activity.
The U.S. regulator describes transnational organizations, particularly active in Southeast Asia, that combine fake profiles, social engineering, fraudulent platforms and crypto to move funds. The victims are not necessarily small investors either: the Triangle case shows that a single person can transfer millions before understanding what is happening.
Blockchain creates a paradox here. It enables fast international transfers, but it also leaves a trail. In the Van case, investigators were able to track certain movements between multiple wallets and link transactions to different victims.
This traceability also explains why authorities are now seeking to work directly with exchanges and technology companies. In June, Coinbase, Meta and SpaceX took part in an operation targeting several crypto scam networks.
The $16 million lost through Triangle remains the most striking figure in the case. However, the $53.3 million identified in the wallets gives the investigation another dimension: behind a fake platform may lie a financial chain used by multiple scams, victims and intermediaries.
