Washington DFI flags crypto platform XMPro after $800,000 pig-butchering complaint
Washington's Department of Financial Institutions has published a scam-tracker alert on XMPro, a cryptocurrency trading site reached through shifting domains. The alert reconstructs a single Washington resident's complaint in unusual operational detail, including how the operators laundered deposits across wallets and chains and coached the victim to defeat exchange and bank fraud screening. For financial-crime teams, it is a clean case study in current pig-butchering tradecraft.
- DFI reports a Washington resident was solicited on LinkedIn by "Vanessa," moved to WhatsApp, and directed to deposit crypto bought on Coinbase into XMPro.
- The scheme induced a $750,000 withdrawal from the investor's IRA, with instructions to send bitcoin incrementally to avoid triggering Coinbase fraud protection.
- When the investor sought to withdraw, XMPro demanded a 10% fee and refund of profits totaling over $270,000, and told the investor to label a wire to "Echo Synergy FZE" as "goods" and avoid words like investment or tax.
- DFI found XMPro's displayed transaction history inconsistent with public blockchain records and traced and froze $150,000 of the investor's funds.
- Reported loss is $800,000; DFI classifies the matter as a cryptocurrency, advance-fee and pig-butchering scam.