‘Pig butchering’: Former romance scammer reveals tactics.
The ‘Pig Butchering Scam’ has become the scourge of the internet. A long con that tricks victims into sending money to fraudulent investment platforms, it has exploded to become the costliest scam out there, with victim losses totaling tens of billions of dollars worldwide. In this episode, starring Tia Carrere as Vivian, we learn how Pig Butchering Scams are executed by cyber criminals and the devastating effects this kind of scam has on its victims. Watch to learn more about Pig Butchering Scams and what you can do to protect yourself and your organization from these kinds of attacks!
A woman meets a man online. They flirt. Then, after a few weeks, they begin imagining a future together. Fast forward a few months and one of them has been defrauded of their life savings. It sounds like a classic romance scam, but it isn’t. This is “pig-butchering”: a brutal and elaborate form of organized crime, often involving criminal syndicates, modern-day slaves and victims around the world. Since it rose to prominence in 2021, this method of fraud – which involves scammers grooming their targets before stealing huge sums in cryptocurrency – has fleeced victims of hundreds of millions of pounds and prompted warnings from Interpol and the FBI.
Last year, an inquest heard that one UK victim, a former police officer and father from Wiltshire, took his own life after losing around £100,000 – his entire pension lump sum – in a scam bearing the hallmarks of pig-butchering. Now, an investigation by the Bureau and the Observer has found that organized crime groups are using the UK as a virtual base for their operations, exploiting lax regulation to carry out fraud on an industrial scale. Analysis has identified 168 UK companies accused of running fraudulent cryptocurrency or foreign exchange trading schemes, around half of which are likely to be linked to pig-butchering scams.
Many of these firms are linked through domain registrations and while the vast majority of company directors are resident in China, details about the real owners are scant due to loopholes in the Companies House registration system. Dozens of the companies share an address including an empty shop, a flat above a Chinese takeaway and a council flat in an east London tower block – but appear to have no genuine ties to them. The fact the properties have been linked to frauds is often known to the UK authorities. Yet despite extensive evidence of fraudulent activity, and concerns about the potential for earnings to be laundered via the UK, little has been done to tackle the scam companies – or to prevent new ones from opening.
Justice Dept. Seizes Over $112M in Funds Linked to Cryptocurrency Investment Schemes, With Over Half Seized in Los Angeles Case
‘Pig Butchering’ Scams: What They Are and How to Avoid Them
https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/pig-butchering-scams
Beware the ‘pig butchering’ crypto scam sweeping across America
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/26/investing/crypto-scams-fbi-tips/index.html
Quick Read – ‘Pig butchering’: Former romance scammer reveals tactics
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-64884036
‘Sham credibility’: how UK shell companies fuel ‘pig-butchering’ crypto scams
