Trying to keep up with every singl god-awful thing Trump is doing is like trying to play whack-a-mole while blindfolded. It can't possibly be done. Eyes on one outrage? You just start to focus on it and another one pops up.
So I haven't been able to really dig on the crypto-meme thang that Trump & Co. are running. Is it going to make him billions, or just a few mil? Is the scheme a rug pull, in which the price of something as colossally worthless as a meme coin gets revved up and the initial investors cash (or crypto or meme) out? Is there anything unsavory that this a-hole won't participate in if it'll stroke his ego and/or if he thinks it can make him a buck or a bitcoin?
Sigh...
But much as I'd like to blame him for everyting bad happening in the universe these days, there is, of course, plenty of corruption and thievery in crypto-land that has nothing whatsoever to do with Trump.
Case in point:
A poor schnook out in Utah got conned into investing $2K worth of crypto in something called Ginza, which was touted as an alternative to Amazon for the Japanese market.
The scammer lured "Frank" (not the name of the poor schmuck from Utah, but the name that Forbes gave him) in setting up a shop on Ginza to sell outoor sports gear. Think mini Cabela's; think mini Bass Pro Shop.
Then things just started to spin up and out:
Encouraged by the initial success, Frank borrowed another $1 million from family and friends to invest more in Ginza via crypto. (Source: Forbes)
Well, I'm not going to say that borrowing a cool million from family and friends was Frank's first mistake. No, that was getting suckered into the scheme to begin with. But I of all people know that if you're at all off guard it's easy enough to fall for a scam. The scam I fell for wasn't of the "hogs get slaughtered" variety. I didn't stand to get rich quick. But I answered a spoofed call from BofA last winter, and - in a bout of temporary insanity - I fell for the lie that my account had been hacked and transferred $1K to the scammer. Fortunately, I came to my senses within about 30 seconds of executing this insane transaction and was able to cancel it. But, yeah, smart people can get played. (A couple years ago, a highly intelligent and sophisticated women I know got scammed out of a couple of thousand bucks by some scam artists who were going to fix her chimney for her. It happens.)
But poor schmuck Frank had gotten greedy.
Later, believing he’d scored nearly $4 million, Frank decided to withdraw the money. But to do so, Li told him he needed to pay $700,000 in taxes. He sold his cabin in Idaho for $290,000 and managed to pull together the rest, only to be told that, because of the remarkable success of his Ginza store, he’d need to pay another $700,000 in taxes. Frank gave over another $700,000. In total, he’d put well over $2 million into the apparent Amazon rival. And soon he’d learn the truth: it was all a scam. His money, and the funds he’d borrowed from his kith and kin, were gone.
Frank wasn't alone. The FBI, which uncovered the crime, found many other victims. But Frank was the one that was out the most money.
No word yet on whether the Feds will be able to recover any of Frank's money. Hopefully, if he's not made whole, he can at least be made partial.
Whether or not Frank gets any money back (crypto or real), there are apparanently a ton of "pig butchering" schemes going on, which take advantage of the mark's understandable desire to make a lot of loot without doing much heavy lifting (other than forking over money). And why not? If the President of the US of A can make millions (billions?) with a crypto meme, why shouldn't every schmuck out there make a bit of coin for themselves?
A study last year from University of Texas at Austin claimed pig butchering scams may have netted $75 billion between 2020 and 2024.
Molly Ivins, the great Texas free-wheeling, wildly funny, highly progressive journalist has been dead now fro nearly 20 years. She's the one who way back in the way back, before anyone had ever heard the words 'crypto' or 'meme', came up with the aphorism "pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."
Molly also had this to say:
Lordy lord, I sure wish Molly Ivins were still around. I can only imagine what she'd have to say.
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