A Telegram-based escrow service linked to an illicit online marketplace has refunded over $130 million in stablecoins, potentially disrupting a hub for crypto-related scams. Tudou Guarantee, linked to the Huione Group, refunded $130 million in Tether USDt to merchants since the start of 2026, with refunds peaking at $18.1 million on Sunday.

The closure of the escrow service may slow down phishing and pig butchering scams previously offered by vendors on the marketplace. In 2025, phishing scams ranked as the second-largest threat, costing crypto investors $722 million across 248 incidents. A victim lost their entire Bitcoin retirement fund in a romance scam fueled by artificial intelligence manipulation.

Elliptic uncovered thousands of wallet addresses tied to Tudou Guarantee’s vendors and operations, flagging $89 billion in crypto received by illicit wallets. The marketplace had at least $24 billion in transactions, launching a stablecoin in September 2024 after being exposed as a multi-billion-dollar marketplace for fraudsters in July 2024.

Read more at CoinTelegraph: Huione-Linked Illicit Crypto Escrow Tudou Guarantee Appears to Shut Down