An offer to buy Tether (USDT) at a discount from acquaintances is not free money. Binance co-founder Yi He has warned the Chinese-speaking crypto community to stay away from suspicious informal USDT deposits and transfers. Particular attention was directed at discounted USDT offers from friends or relatives where the origin of the funds is unclear.
This precautionary measure is critical because off-exchange transactions carry serious legal risks: account balances can be frozen without the possibility of unilateral recovery by the exchange.
Channels Under Close Surveillance
Yi He outlined several high-risk transactions currently subject to heightened monitoring. Highlighted activities include fund flows from businesses in Myanmar, payment withdrawals in Cambodia, and intermediary fund transfers on behalf of third parties, commonly known as money mules. Criminals frequently exploit these channels to move assets without undergoing banking or registered exchange verification processes.
The warning from the Binance executive aligns with scrutiny from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in September 2026. The U.S. financial watchdog uncovered a $12.7 billion Southeast Asian crypto investment fraud network that repeatedly used shadow accounts to obscure the origin of illicit funds before converting them into crypto assets.
Money mule schemes often target social circles without the victims realizing it. Scammers frequently use the pretense of offering cheap, discounted USDT to friends or family to launder illicit proceeds through third-party accounts. Users lured by favorable exchange rates inadvertently end up harboring tainted funds in their personal wallets.
Limits of Exchange Authority When Law Enforcement Steps In
Binance’s security systems do not wait until tainted assets land in user accounts. The global exchange employs a compliance system capable of detecting and flagging risky wallet addresses before crypto assets even enter the platform. Through this pre-screening mechanism, wallets affiliated with criminal networks can be promptly flagged.
The most complicated situation arises when law enforcement issues a seizure order. If funds linked to crime proceeds are formally frozen by authorities, Binance has no independent authority to unfreeze or return the assets to users. Full control over unfreezing remains entirely within the jurisdiction of the investigators and legal authorities handling the case.
Criminal investigations by law enforcement can take a long time, with no guaranteed resolution timeline. For account holders, the minor profits from discounted USDT on informal markets are not worth the risk of losing access to their wallet balances. Refusing third-party transfer requests and transacting solely through registered exchanges remain the most effective ways to keep assets safe.
Reported via crypto.news.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
