A $7 Million Crypto Transfer From Tron To Ethereum Shows Signs Of Pig-Butchering Scam

• A wallet transferred approximately $7 million from the Tron blockchain to Ethereum on Sunday.
• Analyst Specter noted the funds were consolidated from various Tron wallets before bridging. The transaction patterns resemble those typical of pig-butchering scams.
• After the transfer, approximately $3.1 million was sent to Tornado Cash, a non-custodial privacy solution on the Ethereum network.

A wallet bridged approximately $7 million from the Tron (TRX) blockchain to Ethereum (ETH) on Monday.

In an X post, on-chain analyst Specter said the funds were consolidated from multiple Tron-based wallets before being bridged to Ethereum. The analyst added that transaction patterns and services involved matched those commonly associated with pig-butchering scams.

Tron (TRX) was trading at $0.2924, down by 0.5% in 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment Tron remained in ‘bullish’ territory, with ‘normal’ chatter levels over the past day.

Funds Routed Through Tornado Cash

Specter said that following the bridge transaction, part of the funds was sent to Tornado Cash, an Ethereum-based privacy protocol. According to the Specter, approximately $3.1 million had been deposited into Tornado Cash at the time of analysis. Blockchain data shows a series of deposits sent from the same Ethereum address to Tornado Cash in repeated transactions, many in 100 ETH increments. 

Tornado Cash is an open-source, non-custodial privacy solution for Ethereum. Its purpose is to break the on-chain link between the transaction source and destination. It was released in 2019 and quickly became the most popular Ethereum-based mixer, appealing to privacy-oriented users as well as bad actors. Then, in August 2022, OFAC wielded the US’s most powerful banking weapon against Tornado Cash over laundered funds linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group. However, the sanctions were officially terminated in March 2025.

Pig-Butchering Scams Remain A Persistent Risk In Crypto

Pig-butchering scams typically involve long-running schemes in which victims are persuaded to transfer funds over time, often through social or messaging platforms, before the assets are moved across chains and routed through privacy services.

Crypto-related pig-butchering scams have been reported in multiple jurisdictions. In December, a California resident reported to the DFPI that he was contacted by an entity calling itself Lexor Finance and encouraged to invest in cryptocurrency. The individual later reported losing approximately $1,000 during the scheme.

Read also: The $8 Trillion Signal: How Ethereum Is Becoming Crypto’s Financial Backbone

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