Every day, there are new and bigger online scams that are cropping up. Given the boom of digital sphere and more and more people joining it to do practically every single thing under the sun, it is no surprise that scammers are day and again coming up with new ways to scam people out of money and other things.
One that is currently in the news is something called the pig butchering scam where the scammer under the guise of a wrong number text and slowly building trust and confidence with the victim before stealing money from the person one way or another.
The term comes from the practice of fattening up a pig before it is slaughtered, and similar to which the scammer also fattens up the trust and communication with the victim before striking against them. The practice comes from China but with the pandemic has gone global.
Pig Butchering Scams Increasing
The scam often starts with an innocent message to the victim, that almost seems like it was sent to the wrong number. The scammer then uses this opportunity to strike conversation with the person and per a Livemint report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s clearinghouse for consumer complaints about online crime has revealed that in the last year alone has cost people in the US over $429 million.
The messages are sent through various channels including SMS, WhatsApp and even dating apps like Tinder and more. The whole concept is to build trust with the vitcim and as per an FBI report “feed their victims with promises of romance and riches before cutting them off and taking all their money.”
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The FBI has also warned that these scammers are venturing into the crypto world and to be very careful with their investment. US Secret Service Special Agent Shawn Bradstreet speaking Bitcoin.com said, “Once they [the victims] see how easy it is to invest, they see a rise in their screen account, and then they end up investing their entire life savings in a matter of days.”
In May of this year, a 35-year-old man from Chennai reportedly was scammed out of Rs. 10 lakh in another incident of pig butchering scam, prior to this a businessman from Chattisgarh had also filed a complaint with the police that he had lost Rs. 80 lakh in April.
The scammers after gaining the trust of the person, make them invest in fraudulent websites and and mobile apps through links, saying how these are good websites to get rich and make money from. Since the trust is already there, the victims unknowingly fall to the scam and lose out on a lot of money.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: CNBC, Livemint, Forbes
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This post is tagged under: Pig Butchering scam, scam, online scam, crypto scam, scam victim, Pig Butchering online scam, anti scam, Pig Butchering scam india
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