U.S. authorities have warned about the rising popularity of a crypto scam known as “pig butchering.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) explained: “The fraud is named for the way scammers feed their victims with promises of romance and riches before cutting them off and taking all their money.”
‘Pig Butchering’ Crypto Scam on the Rise
U.S. authorities have been warning about a type of cryptocurrency scam called “pig butchering” that has been growing in popularity at an alarming rate.
Lakewood Police Public Information Officer John Romero detailed:
Pig butchering refers to a farmer who fattens the pig before they kill it. And in this case, it’s the suspect who was fattening up their victim.
Police explained to him that the pig slaughtering scheme usually involves a victim being contacted via social media, such as Linkedin or Tinder. Once the scammer has found the victim and convinced them to pay some money, the officer advised. Once the money is transferred, the fraudster makes it appear that the crypto account will grow in value. This encourages the victim to continue adding funds. The scammer then disappears with a large amount of the victim’s cryptocurrency.
One victim said that he could withdraw a handful of funds from his crypto account with no problems at first. He thought everything was fine until he got a message saying that he needed to deposit more than $204K to gain access to his account.
Shawn Bradstreet is a U.S. Secret Service Special agent.
After they are done, [the victims]They see the ease of investing, see their screen accounts rise and end up investing all their savings within days.
He added: “The counterfeit sites used can look legitimate, but the money is going straight to the criminals.”
Non-profit organization based in Singapore, the Global Anti-Scam Organization provides assistance to victims of pig slaughtering 24 hours per day. Grace Yuen is a spokesperson from Massachusetts for the group.
We are seeing an influx of victims from the Bay Area … The scam continues to get more advanced, where fake platforms are made, impersonating legitimate crypto-trading sites.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailed in April: “The fraud is named for the way scammers feed their victims with promises of romance and riches before cutting them off and taking all their money.” The law enforcement agency added:
It’s run by a fraud ring of cryptocurrency scammers who mine dating apps and other social media for victims and the scam is becoming alarmingly popular.
Coinbase, which is listed on the Nasdaq crypto exchange Coinbase, warned of Sha Zhu Pan (pig-butchering) scams. “Coinbase has seen a concerning increase in fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms that are sourcing victims through connections on dating apps and social media. We are encouraging our users to be vigilant against this type of social engineering scam,” the exchange wrote.
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