Building Bridges to Tackle Pig Butchering

3 times a charm! This is the 3rd time Erin West (Deputy District Attorney, Santa Clara County, Office of the District Attorney) has appeared on the podcast speaking with Ian Andrews (CMO, Chainalysis) and all 3 episodes have been the most downloaded episodes in Public Key history.

Erin talks about the evolution of combating crypto crimes, from SIM swapping to pig butchering scams.  She highlights the growing efforts with the Crypto Coalition and Operation Shamrock and how she will be leaving her position as Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara to pursue operating Operation Shamrock full time.

She reveals the bottleneck when it comes to combating pig butchering including victim shaming and the transnational organization of criminal syndicates.  

She also highlights the need for a unified national strategy against crypto-related scams and increased public private partnerships and collaboration, which in part earned her the Chainalysis Customer Bridge Builder Award and recognition as the ACAMS AFC Professional of the year. 

Minute-by-minute episode breakdown

2 | Erin West's impactful work in SIM Swapping and Pig Butchering and law enforcement

4 | The global threat of Pig Butchering Scams and transnational organized crime syndicates

6 | Psychological manipulation and its impact on educated and technical professionals

8 | Being named Chainalysis Customer Award winner as Bridge Builder of the Year (2024) 

9 | Building bridges in cryptocurrency investigations and global collaboration with REACT Taskforce and Operation Shamrock 

13 | Collaborative solutions to combat Pig Butchering scams

17 | The bottleneck of fighting Pig Butchering is handling victims 

20 | Erin West retires from Santa Clara DA office to lead Operation Shamrock as nonprofit

23 | House Committee on Financial Services hears about Pig Butchering and crypto scams

26 | OFAC sanctions Cambodian tycoon and businesses linked to Pig Butchering scams

29 | The future of Operation Shamrock and combatting Pig Butchering 

Related resources

Check out more resources provided by Chainalysis that perfectly complement this episode of the Public Key.

• Website: Operation Shamrock: Educate. Seize. Disrupt
• Website:REACT Taskforce: Regional Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT)
  
• Blog: Announcing Chainalysis’ 2024 U.S. Public Sector Customer Awards Program
• Announcement:  ACAMS: AFC Professional of the Year (2024): Erin West
• Video: U.S. House Committee on Financial Services:Protecting Americans’ Savings: Examining the Economics of the Multi-Billion Dollar Romance Confidence Scam Industry.
• Press Release: Treasury Sanctions Cambodian Tycoon and Businesses Linked to Human Trafficking and Forced Labor in Furtherance of Cyber and Virtual Currency Scams
• Blog: 2024 Crypto Crime Mid-year Update Part 2: China-based CSAM and Cybercrime Networks On The Rise, Pig Butchering Scams Remain Lucrative
• Podcast: Episode 45: How Law Enforcement is Combating Pig Butchering Crypto Scams (with Erin West and Alona Katz)
• YouTube: Chainalysis YouTube page
• Twitter: Chainalysis Twitter: Building trust in blockchain

Speakers on today’s episode

• Ian Andrews *Host* (Chief Marketing Officer, Chainalysis) 
• Erin West (Deputy District Attorney, Santa Clara County, Office of the District Attorney)

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