According to Frank Fisher, a public affairs expert at the bureau’s Albuquerque section, they are not talking about what’s happening at farms. They are discussing a widespread national crypto investment scam.
The term “pig butchering” refers to a scammer tricking an unsuspecting victim — the “pig” — into handing over money in exchange for a high rate of return.
According to Santa Clara County, California, district attorney Jeff Rosen, whose office oversees a multi-agency task force battling technology-related crimes, scammers fatten up the pig by getting the victim to think that they’re investing in something and get them to move money into cryptocurrency.
According to Rosen, thieves first “fatten up” the digital wallets of their victims before stealing their money.
A simple but risky strategy
According to Rosen, pig slaughtering businesses often start out simply: Every day, scammers send millions of unwanted text messages and social media posts to unwitting victims, frequently with a harmless note like, “Hi, how are you?”
Before suggesting the victim “invest” in cryptocurrencies, the con artist using a fictitious identity develops a relationship with the victim, often over the course of just a few weeks.
Assuring a victim that the scammer has made substantial earnings in crypto is one tactic used to convince the victim that they shouldn’t pass up the advantages of investing in cryptocurrencies.
Those who fall for the fraud are encouraged to transfer increasingly larger sums of money, and they may even be sent bogus financial documents that falsely indicate the success of their investments.
Herein lies the fattening up of the pig, according to Rosen. You eventually start to have some suspicions. You attempt to get in touch with the person who contacted you online and request a refund. However, that person ghosted you.
Beware the holidays
Rosen claims that because scammers frequently prey on people who may be feeling lonely around the holidays, it is a very lucrative time for them.
Although the initial strategy is straightforward, Rosen claims that the actual scamming operations his team has looked into—which mainly take place abroad, particularly in Cambodia and China—involve more complex techniques.
Psychologists have trained them to try to determine the most effective technique to manipulate people, he claims. You’re dealing with folks who will employ various psychological tricks to make you gullible and entice you to part with your cash.
According to experts, basic knowledge and care are essential for avoiding online predators.
When someone develops a relationship with you on social media or dating apps and asks you to start investing, Fisher of the FBI advises caution. “Avoid being slaughtered.”
‘Another dead ringer’
The FBI reports seeing an increase in frauds involving the massive retailer Amazon as consumers spend billions online during this holiday season. According to Fisher, the scams perpetrated by online thieves are only constrained by their imagination and precise timing.
According to Fisher, one sort of scam involves someone calling you and pretending to be from Amazon or another wholesaler distributor and they say there’s a problem with your credit card. The fraudster subsequently requests a fresh credit card number.
Another form of the Amazon scam involves a con artist calling a potential victim and telling them their purchasing rights have been suspended because a suspicious purchase has been detected on their account. To reinstate the account, the victim is immediately required to make a credit card payment.
They sometimes even make threats to report you for your purchase to legal enforcement, according to Fisher. A different dead ringer. Avoid falling into this con.
Customers are cautioned by Amazon’s security team that the corporation will never solicit personal information from them and that they should ignore communications asking for account information or other personally identifiable information.
According to a statement released by the business, it has worked to remove thousands of online phishing websites and phone numbers linked to impersonation schemes and has reported suspected scammers to law enforcement organizations around the world.
Dharmesh Mehta, vice president of Selling Partner Services at Amazon, stated that scammers who seek to pose as the online retailer put consumers in danger. Even though these frauds happen outside of our store, we will continue to allocate funds to safeguard consumers and inform the public about scams.
Targeting the elderly
According to the FBI, additional scams that are becoming more prevalent this holiday season primarily target senior adults. According to Fisher, con artists frequently target the older Americans since they know they are gullible and typically have more money.
In so-called sweepstakes scams, victims are contacted and informed that they have won a prize; however, they are then instructed to transmit funds in order to pay for taxes and processing costs, which can be extremely expensive.
According to Fisher, legitimate “sweepstakes will not do that.” They won’t demand upfront payment in order to collect your money.
According to him, there were perhaps 60 bogus sweepstakes victims in New Mexico alone last year, and their combined losses came to $1 million.
The FBI advises people to inquire about senior friends and family members’ internet behaviors and whether they may have been the target of cybercriminals.
Ask questions, advises Fisher, whether someone has approached them and wants to be their friend and create a relationship.
