The U.S. Treasury Department has blacklisted Funnull Technology Inc., a tech company based in the Philippines, for allegedly serving as the digital backbone for large-scale crypto fraud operations worldwide.
Announced Thursday, the sanctions aim to disrupt “pig butchering” schemes, which lure victims into fake crypto investments by faking romantic or business relationships.
Victims Lose Millions Through Funnull-Linked Sites
Investigators say Funnull supported a network of over 200,000 fraudulent domains, costing U.S. victims more than $200 million—with average losses reported at $150,000 per person.
The firm’s top executive, Liu Lizhi, a Chinese national, has also been sanctioned. Treasury officials accuse him of coordinating domain sales, infrastructure support, and links to phishing and illicit gambling portals.
“This action underscores our commitment to dismantling the operations behind online financial deception,” said Treasury’s Michael Faulkender.
FBI Issues Cyber Alert as Takedown Begins
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) coordinated the action under E.O. 13694 and 14144, alongside the FBI, which is now issuing guidance to help companies identify sites connected to Funnull.
Key findings reveal that Funnull:
- Purchased cloud-based IP blocks and repurposed them for scams;
- Used domain generation tools to enable fraudsters at scale;
- Offered cloned web templates to impersonate real platforms;
- Compromised a code repository in 2024 to redirect traffic to scam servers.
Crypto Scams Meet Human Trafficking in Global Web
Funnull’s takedown follows a broader Treasury campaign against crypto-related crime rings in Southeast Asia, often run using trafficked labor forced to operate online scams.
Authorities are now calling on fintech firms and hosting providers to help dismantle the infrastructure enabling these crimes—starting with rogue firms like Funnull.
