U.S. authorities are warning about the growing popularity of a crypto scam known as “pig butchering.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) describes it as follows:” The scam is named for the way scammers feed their victims with promises of romance and wealth before cutting them off and taking all their money.”
Pig Butchering’ Crypto Scam on the Rise
U.S. authorities are warning that a type of cryptocurrency scam called “pig butchering” is increasing at an alarming rate.
Lakewood police spokesman John Romero details.
The term “pig dismemberment” comes from the practice of farmers fattening up their pigs before slaughtering them. In this case, the suspect fattened up the victim.
Police officers explained that pig slaughter scams usually begin on social media or dating sites like Linkedin or Tinder, where scammers find victims and convince them to hand over funds. The scammer then puts the funds into a crypto account, and because the crypto account appears to be increasing in value, the victim is tempted to add more funds to the account. The scammer then disappears with a large amount of the victim’s cryptocurrency.
According to one victim of a pig slaughter scam, he was initially able to make several withdrawals from his crypto account without any problems. Everything seemed legitimate until he received a message that he had to pay a deposit of over $204K to gain access to his account.
U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Sean Bradstreet commented:
When they [victims] see how easy it is to invest, they see their screen accounts go up and within days they invest their entire life savings.
He added, “The counterfeit sites used may appear legitimate, but the money goes directly to the criminals.” He stated.
The Singapore-based Global Anti-Slaughter Organization is a non-profit organization staffed around the clock to assist victims of pig slaughter. Grace Yuen, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts-based organization, explains.
We are seeing an influx of victims from the Bay Area … Scams continue to become more sophisticated, with fake platforms being created to masquerade as legitimate crypto trading sites.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailed this in April.” The scam is so named because the scammer makes the victim promise romance and wealth before cutting them off and taking all their money.” Law enforcement added:
It is run by a fraud ring of cryptocurrency scammers who mine victims of dating apps and other social media, and the scam is becoming alarmingly popular.
Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase alsoissued awarning last week about the Sha Zhu Pan (pig slaughter) investment scam.” Coinbase is concerned about the rise of fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms that are procuring victims through dating apps and social media connections. We urge our users to be vigilant against this type of social engineering scam,” the exchange wrote.
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