Key Highlights
- U.S. authorities jailed Sze Man Yu Inos for 71 months after she used fake Bitcoin claims to defraud victims across multiple regions.
- Inos built trust with older women through close relationships, persuading them to send funds for nonexistent crypto investments.
- The case highlights a wider crackdown as regulators and law enforcement target rising crypto fraud schemes globally.
U.S. authorities sentenced a Saipan woman to 71 months in federal prison for running a multi-year wire fraud scheme that targeted victims across several regions, according to a statement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Sze Man Yu Inos, 30-years-old, known as “Yuki,” carried out the scheme from November 2020 to January 2022. She initially targeted older women in Saipan and Guam before expanding her operations to victims in Washington and California.
Prosecutors detailed a calculated social engineering operation. Inos approached older women and falsely claimed she came from a wealthy Chinese family, owned multiple businesses, and had amassed a fortune through Bitcoin investments.
How the scheme exploited trust
To cultivate trust, Inos built close relationships with her victims, and kept those relationships going with gifts, meals, and personal conversations, often telling them, “You are like my mom.”
Authorities said the victims later sent her money, believing they were making genuine highly profitable investments. The court ordered her to repay $769,355.67 in restitution, followed by three years under supervision and 100 hours of community service.
“Criminals engaged in affinity fraud prey on our willingness to trust others,” U.S. Attorney Shawn N. Anderson said. “This defendant chose to target older women across multiple jurisdictions, resulting in substantial financial losses. She continued her scams while this case was pending.”
Broader crackdown on crypto fraud
The case comes amid a broader enforcement push against crypto-related crime. Authorities recently sentenced a California man to 70 months for laundering funds linked to a $263 million scheme. Investigators also seized more than 500 domains tied to fraudulent investment platforms targeting victims online.
Regulators are also tightening oversight. Tennessee approved a law banning cryptocurrency kiosks, citing their use in scams targeting vulnerable users. Officials said such machines often enable irreversible transactions, limiting recovery options for victims.
International efforts have also produced mixed results. Singapore said it prevented more than $2.86 million in losses through coordinated action with crypto exchanges and is promoting similar models to curb fraud.
As digital asset adoption grows, global law enforcement agencies are increasingly pivoting their focus from simply tracking on-chain movements to prosecuting the psychological manipulation and social engineering tactics used to initiate the frauds.
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