U.S. Sanctions Philippine Tech Firm Funnull for Enabling Crypto Scams
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Funnull Technology Inc., a Philippines-based tech firm, and its administrator Liu Luzhi for allegedly providing backend infrastructure to fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. The company is accused of facilitating ’pig butchering’ scams by purchasing and reselling IP addresses to cybercriminals, who used them to host fake investment platforms.
Funnull’s operations reportedly contributed to over $200 million in losses for U.S. victims in 2024, a record year for illicit cyber scam revenue. The firm employed domain generation algorithms (DGAs) to create multiple similar domains and supplied web templates to mimic trusted brands, enabling scammers to quickly shift operations.
