Debiex Ordered to Pay $2.5M After CFTC Alleges Romance Scam Operation

Crypto trading platform Debiex has been ordered to pay approximately $2.5 million after failing to respond to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which accused the company of operating a romance scam targeting investors.

On March 13, Arizona federal court Judge Douglas Rayes granted the CFTC’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that Debiex must return about $2.26 million stolen from its customers, along with a civil penalty of nearly $221,500.

Judge Rayes also stated that Debiex’s failure to respond to the lawsuit was not due to “excusable neglect,” indicating no justification for its inaction.

CFTC Exposes Romance Scam Disguised as a Crypto Investment Platform

The CFTC initially sued Debiex in January 2024, alleging that the platform engaged in a “pig butchering” scam—a scheme in which fraudsters build romantic relationships with victims via social media to gain trust before convincing them to invest in fraudulent ventures.

According to the lawsuit, Debiex’s operators lured five victims who collectively deposited around $2.3 million into the platform.

However, rather than facilitating legitimate trades, Debiex simply stole the funds.

The CFTC also identified a key figure in the operation, Zhāng Chéng Yáng, accusing him of acting as a “money mule” by handling transactions through cryptocurrency wallets used to receive and launder the victims’ funds.

🚨 CFTC Crushes Debiex Pig Butchering Scam!

A federal judge ordered Debiex to pay $2.5M—$2.26M restitution plus a $221K penalty—for a romance scam that stole $2.3M from victims via fake crypto trading.

Justice served or just a slap on the wrist?

🤔 Check the ruling here…

— TrenDragon (@AVTrader) March 17, 2025

On March 12, Judge Rayes granted the CFTC’s request for a default judgment against Zhāng, concluding that he controlled an OKX wallet that received assets to which he had no legal claim.

The court noted that OKX had been voluntarily preserving the wallet’s contents, which included nearly 63 Ether (ETH) valued at approximately $119,500 and $5.70 worth of Tether (USDT).

Judge Rayes ordered these funds to be transferred to one of the victims.

How the Debiex Scam Operated

The CFTC’s complaint detailed how Debiex’s unknown managers targeted victims through social media, portraying the platform as a “Blockchain Network Decentralized perpetual contract trading platform” where users could engage in futures trading and mining transactions.

Fraudsters posing as female traders would build rapport with their targets by engaging in continuous conversations, sending personal photos, and presenting themselves as highly successful cryptocurrency investors.

Once victims were convinced, they were encouraged to create accounts and deposit funds.

However, instead of engaging in legitimate trading, Debiex provided users with fabricated account balances, fake trading positions, and false profit figures.

“All of this information was most likely false,” the CFTC stated, adding that the platform simply funneled customers’ funds into multiple digital wallets to obscure their final destination.

In February 2025, losses in the crypto ecosystem increased by 20x month-over-month compared with January 2025, according to the latest report by major blockchain security platform Immunefi.

In January, registered losses stood at $73,915,700. Just a month later, this figure jumped to $1,528,342,400. The latter was the result of nine hacks.

Additionally, the February number is an 18x increase from the same time a year prior. In February 2024, registered losses were $81,603,400.