Caught on the hook in WhatsApp: financier thought about huge $47 million crypto dividend, but now will spend 24 years in prison
Kyiv • UNN
The CEO of a Kansas bank transferred $47 million in bank funds to fake crypto wallets after a fraudulent WhatsApp scheme. The FBI managed to recover only $8 million, and the banker was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
The CEO of the popular Heartland Tri-State Bank in Kansas (USA) has fallen victim to a scam that began with a simple WhatsApp message. UNN writes with references to NBC News and EL PAÍS.
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Shan Haines, 53, who has served society for about three decades, has fallen victim to a sophisticated cryptocurrency scam called Pig Processing.
In 2022, in a WhatsApp conversation, the sender offered the financier a lucrative opportunity to invest in a crypto wallet with a very attractive return.
The system was easy to use - it worked through an app and included cryptocurrencies.
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Pig butchering scamstypically involve fraudsters who lure victims into investing money by promising significant profits and then disappear with the money.
How the fraud was carried out
In fact, Haynes invested his own money in fake cryptocurrency investments.
Over time, he began to "borrow" money from other sources: from the funds of a church that Haynes regularly attended; then from the college funds of one of his daughters; and, starting in 2023, from Tri-State Bank, where he worked. This was done in transfers of $1 million or $2 million at a time, and even forced bank employees to bend the limits set by the bank itself to make the transfers requested by a top bank executive.
Thus, the 53-year-old man made transfers for $6.7 million and another for $10 million. He transferred these amounts to his fraudulent activities.
The associates assured Haynes that his investment would pay huge dividends, and he only needed to invest more money to get back what he had already invested.
CFO declassifies scheme, FBI uncovers fraud
The vigilance of the bank's CFO helped to uncover the fraud, which led to a government investigation that revealed the full extent of the fraud.
According to court documents, Haynes organized a complex scheme in which he transferred more than $47 million from the bank's funds to numerous cryptocurrency accounts controlled by third parties.
The FBI has recovered $8 million of the $47 million stolen by hacking the crypto wallet involved in the scam. In August, Haynes was sentenced to 24 years and five months in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement.
