Michaela
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on Funnull Technology Inc., a tech firm based in the Philippines, and its administrator Liu Luzhi, accusing them of supplying the backend infrastructure for a network of fraudulent cryptocurrency investment websites.
In a press release, the U.S. Treasury stated that Funnull played a key role in enabling virtual currency investment scams, commonly known as “pig butchering” scams. The company allegedly purchased large quantities of IP addresses from major cloud service providers around the world and sold them to cyber criminals. These IP addresses were then used to host fraudulent investment platforms and other harmful online content.
The Treasury reported that American victims lose billions of dollars each year to cyber scams, with 2024 marking a record high in illicit revenue from these schemes. Funnull directly supported several of these operations, contributing to more than $200 million in reported losses from U.S. victims.
Funnull is alleged to use domain generation algorithms (DGAs) to create domain names for websites hosted on the IP addresses it purchases. These algorithms produce large volumes of similar but distinct website names.
Additionally, the tech firm reportedly supplied web design templates to cyber criminals, allowing them to mimic trusted brands and rapidly shift to new domains and IP addresses once legitimate providers become aware of the fraudulent activity and attempt to remove the malicious websites.
Furthermore, Lizhi, a Chinese national, was reportedly involved in the operation and had access to internal documents, including spreadsheets detailing Funnull’s staff, their performance metrics, and task progress. Among these tasks was assigning domain names to cyber criminal groups, some of which were linked to virtual currency investment fraud, phishing schemes, and illicit online gambling platforms.
Following the sanctions, all individuals and entities in the United States are prohibited from engaging with any property or business interests in which Lizhi and Funnull hold more than a 50 percent ownership. Violations of these restrictions may result in civil or criminal penalties. Additionally, Lizhi has been placed on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list as part of the enforcement actions.
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Michaela has no crypto positions and does not hold any crypto assets. This article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The Shib Magazine and The Shib Daily are the official media and publications of the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency project. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial adviser before making any investment decisions.
