- A Utah resident recently lost $208,000 in an online scam.
- The FBI reported $21 billion lost to cyber-enabled crimes in 2025, with investment fraud prevalent.
- California authorities flagged APL Finance as fraudulent; multiple victims reported significant financial losses.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah resident who recently invested in a company called APL Finance is now trying to recover more than $200,000 that police say was taken from him.
The man appears to have been a victim of what is known as a "pig butchering scam."
"Investigation into APL Finance shows millions of dollars lost by victims to this scam," a police officer investigating the case wrote in court documents, while noting that the the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center has identified more than 30 victims within the last year.
The investigation began in December when the man contacted police to report he believed he was the victim of a scam.
"The victim began to invest in a company known as APL Finance. The victim began to make a series of bank wire transfers to the bank accounts provided by the suspect. As his small investments began to show large gains, he continued to invest more and more money. The total invested was $208,000," a police affidavit states.
However, "once the victim attempted to withdraw his funds from this account, he began getting error messages that he needed to pay more money to 'unlock' his frozen funds. He began to get pressure from the suspect to pay them more money. At this point he knew it was a scam and began to report this case," the affidavit states.
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation has flagged "APL Management" and its associated homepage and app — APL Finance — as a "fraudulent platform." According to the department's website, a California resident was approached by a couple on the WhatsApp app claiming to be "financial advisers" from APL Management. After telling the victim to download the APL Finance app, the couple "directed the victim to send a series of wire transfers to personal bank accounts and indicated these payments would be used to fund the victim's balance on the platform.
"The victim has not been able to recover any of their funds, and the website is no longer operational. All told, the victim lost at least $1.2 million," the site says.
The Utah victim was also initially contacted on the WhatsApp app, according to police.
The California resident was a victim of a fraudulent trading platform and a pig butchering scam, according to California authorities.
"Scammer may use a variety of methods to establish a relationship (either social, romantic, or business focus), and then gain the victim's confidence and gradually introduce the victim to a fraudulent investment opportunity," according to the department's web page explaining the different types of online scams. "Once scammer has the victim's trust, scammer will then propose an investment opportunity related to crypto assets.
"The fraudulent platform investment opportunity is often designed to appear legitimate, and often produces artificial gains to keep the victim engaged in the platform and possibly deposit more funds. However, the victim is never able to withdraw their funds from the site, and may be asked to transfer even more funds before anything can be withdrawn through a variety of excuses," the website says.
According to the FBI's annual Internet Crime Complaint Report released Monday for 2025, "cyber-enabled crimes defrauded Americans of nearly $21 billion, with cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence-related complaints among the costliest."
The agency's Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 1 million complaints last year.
"Phishing/spoofing, extortion, and investment schemes were the most frequently reported complaints. Americans over 60 reported approximately $7.7 billion in losses, up 37% from 2024. The Internet Crime Complaint Center received approximately 453,000 cyber-enabled fraud complaints, with reported losses exceeding $17.7 billion. Investment fraud remains the primary driver, accounting for nearly 49% of all scam-related losses," the FBI announced.
"Scammers rely on pressure techniques to defraud Americans while deploying fake social profiles, voice clones, identification documents, and believable videos depicting public figures or loved ones."
The FBI has produced several public service announcements to help the public identify red flags and not give away their money or personal information.
