US authorities have warned of the growing popularity of a crypto scam known as “pig butchering“. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) explained: “This fraud is named after the way scammers feed their victims promises of romance and wealth before cutting them off and taking all their money.“
US Authorities Warn of Growing Popularity of Crypto Scam “Pig Butchering”
US authorities have warned of a type of cryptocurrency scam called “pig butchering“, whose popularity is growing at an alarming rate.
Lakewood Police Public Information Officer John Romero gave details:
The term pig butchery comes from the fact that a farmer fattens the pig before slaughtering it. And in this case, it was the suspect who fattened up his victim.
The police officer explained that the pig butchering scam usually starts on social media or dating sites like Tinder, where the scammer finds and convinces the victim to hand over funds. The scammer then places the money in a crypto account which appears to be rising in value, prompting the victim to add funds to the account. The scammer then disappears with a large amount of the victim’s cryptocurrencies.
According to a victim of the “Pig Butchering“, initially he was able to make a few withdrawals from the crypto account with no problem. Everything seemed legit until he received a message telling him that he had to pay over $204K in deposits to gain access to his account.
US Secret Service Special Agent Shawn Bradstreet commented:
Once they [les victimes] see how easy it is to invest, they see an increase in their screen account and end up investing all their savings in a few days.
He added : “The fake sites used may look legitimate, but the money goes straight to the criminals.”
The Global Anti-Scam Organization, based in Singapore, is a non-profit organization whose staff are on hand around the clock to help victims of “Pig Butchering”. Grace Yuen, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts-based organization, described:
We see an influx of victims, the scam continues to perfect itself, where fake platforms are created, posing as legitimate cryptocurrency sites.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) clarified in April: “This fraud is named after the way scam artists feed their victims promises of romance and wealth before cutting them off and taking all their money.The law enforcement agency added:
It is run by a network of cryptocurrency scammers who exploit dating apps and other social networks to find victims and the scam is getting alarming.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase also warned about investment scams last week. “Coinbase has seen a worrying increase in fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms sourcing victims through hookups on dating apps and social media. We encourage our users to be vigilant against this type of social engineering scam.“, writes the exchange.