The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken its first-ever action against crypto "pig butchering" scammers, charging two fake crypto exchanges, NanoBit and CoinW6, with stealing nearly $3.2 million from investors . These scammers gained investors' trust by posing as attractive professionals on social media, particularly on LinkedIn and Instagram, and then convinced them to open accounts with promises of up to 3% daily returns from fictitious staking.

The Scams:

CoinW6 Defrauded at least 11 investors out of over $2.2 million by pursuing romantic relationships over WhatsApp between July 2022 and December 2023.

NanoBit: Defrauded at least 18 people out of nearly $968,000 by posing as financial industry professionals in WhatsApp groups between October 2023 and June 2024.

The SEC alleges that these scammers created fake crypto ecosystems displaying false information to investors. When investors tried to withdraw funds, they were met with demands for additional payments or blackmail threats.