Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Qbit, Bytechip Over Alleged ‘Pig Butchering’ Crypto Scam

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims thousands of individuals have been defrauded in a cryptocurrency scheme orchestrated by UAB Qbit Financial Service, Bytechip LLC and their CEO, Yujun Wu.

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The 54-page lawsuit accuses the defendants of running a “pig butchering” scam—an elaborate, long-term scheme in which scammers contact potential victims through social media, dating apps or direct messaging platforms, gain their trust and lure them into making investments into fake cryptocurrency projects. Targets are instructed to transfer their assets into crypto wallets controlled by the scammers, who then steal the funds, the complaint explains.

The plaintiff, an Alabama resident, claims he contacted data firm Inca Digital after he fell victim to an alleged pig butchering scam last year. Although Qbit purports to be a legitimate banking-as-a-service company, Inca traced a significant portion of the man’s stolen funds to a wallet owned and operated by the defendants, the filing asserts.

Inca’s forensic analysis further revealed that the plaintiff’s transactions were part of a broader scheme orchestrated by Qbit, Bytechip and Wu that laundered an estimated $28 million from thousands of victims between March and at least June 4, 2024, the suit alleges.

“The scammers first solicit victims by sending boilerplate inquiries about investment opportunities or part-time work,” the complaint explains. “After a person responds to a message, one or more scammers contact that person and describe the opportunities, all of which have the purported potential of earning the victim significant income by completing seemingly legitimate work tasks for well-known companies or by making seemingly legitimate investments.”

The lawsuit shares that victims are led to believe they have earned money and can withdraw these funds from their accounts. Over time, scammers coerce targets into making progressively larger deposits for various reasons, such as promises of increased earnings, supposed taxes or hidden fees, or claims of a negative account balance, the suit says.

“At some point, the [fake cryptocurrency trading] platform itself will disappear, or the scammer will block the victim,” the case states. “The victims then realize they have been scammed, but their cryptocurrency is gone.”

Per the filing, the defendants followed their “standardized playbook” to ensnare the plaintiff, who says he was first contacted on WhatsApp in March 2024 about part-time online work for software company Grayphite. The man sent an initial deposit of $110 in crypto from his Coinbase account to an account that the scammers represented was part of the work platform, the case shares. The lawsuit says the plaintiff performed tasks on the fake work platform and received “payments” he could initially withdraw in small amounts.

In less than a month, the man was manipulated into transferring approximately $90,000 to wallets controlled by the defendants until the scammers completely blocked him from accessing his “accounts” or withdrawing his funds, the case contends.

The Qbit lawsuit looks to represent all individuals and entities who, at the suggestion of the scammers or individuals acting under the scammers’ instruction or control, transferred cryptocurrency into one or more of the cryptocurrency wallets identified on this page and other scam wallet addresses controlled by the defendants as may be identified during discovery.

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