US Authorities Issue Warning Regarding The Alarmingly Popular ‘Pig Butchering’ Crypto Scam

Authorities in the United States have issued a warning over the spread of the “Pig Butchering” cryptocurrency fraud. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the scam is named after the way con artists entice victims with promises of love and wealth before cutting them off and stealing all of their money.

Growing ‘Pig butchering’ crypto scam

The “pig slaughtering” bitcoin fraud has been receiving alarmingly more attention recently, according to U.S. authorities.

Lakewood Police Public Information Officer John Romero detailed:

The term pig butchering basically comes from a farmer fattening up the pig before they slaughter it. And in this case, it’s the suspect who was fattening up their victim.

According to the police officer, the pig butchering fraud typically begins on social media or dating apps like Linkedin and Tinder, where the con artist locates and persuades the victim to send money. The victim is persuaded to add more money to the account by the con artist who then deposits the money into a cryptocurrency account that looks to appreciate in value. After that, the con artist vanishes with a sizable sum of the victim’s cryptocurrency.

One swine slaughtering hoax victim claims that he was initially able to make a few withdrawals from the cryptocurrency account without any issues. Everything appeared to be in order until he got a notice informing him that he needed to make deposits totaling more than $204K in order to access his account.

U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Shawn Bradstreet commented:

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.

He added:

“The counterfeit sites used can look legitimate, but the money is going straight to the criminals.”

The Singapore-based Global Anti-Scam Organization is a non-profit staffed 24 hours a day to help victims of pig butchering. Grace Yuen, a Massachusetts-based spokesperson for the organization, described:

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.

The Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase also warned about Sha Zhu Pan (pig butchering) investment scams last week.

“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.

DISCLAIMER: The Information on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.

Join CoinCu Telegram to keep track of news: https://t.me/coincunews

Follow CoinCu Youtube Channel | Follow CoinCu Facebook page

Annie

CoinCu News