{"id":24070,"date":"2024-03-01T06:10:04","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T14:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2024\/03\/01\/news-17800\/"},"modified":"2024-03-01T06:10:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T14:10:04","slug":"news-17800","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2024\/03\/01\/news-17800\/","title":{"rendered":"Pig butchering scams, how they work and how to avoid them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Pig butchering scams are big business. There are hundreds of millions of dollars involved every year. The numbers are not very precise because some see them as a special kind of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/blog\/podcast\/2023\/08\/an-influx-of-elons-a-hospital-visit-and-magic-men-lock-and-code-s04e18\">romance scam<\/a>, while others classify them as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/blog\/news\/2024\/01\/investment-fraud-a-serious-money-maker-for-criminals\">investment fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The victims in Pig Butchering schemes are referred to as pigs by the scammers, who use elaborate storylines to fatten up victims into believing they are in a romantic or otherwise close personal relationship. Once the victim places enough trust in the scammer, they bring the victim into a cryptocurrency investment scheme. Then comes the butchering\u2013meaning they\u2019ll be bled dry of their money.<\/p>\n<p>And they usually start by someone sending you a message that looks like it\u2019s intended for someone else.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"701\" height=\"265\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/03\/examples.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-105747\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Scammers trying to initiate pig butchering scams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The accounts sending the messages often use stock photographs of models for their profile pictures. But even though you won\u2019t know these people, a simple reply of \u201cI\u2019m not Steve, but\u2026\u201d is almost exactly what the scammers want\u2014an initial foothold to talk to you a bit more.<\/p>\n<p>After some small talk, the scammer will ask if you\u2019re familiar with investments, or cryptocurrency. They\u2019ll then do one of two things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Direct you to a genuine cryptocurrency investment portal, and send you some money to invest or have you do it on your own dime. Eventually you\u2019re asked to transfer all funds and\/or profit to a separate account which belongs to the scammer. At that point, your money has gone and the proverbial pig has been butchered after a period of so-called \u201cfattening up\u201d (in other words, gaining your trust and convincing you to go all out where investing is concerned).<\/li>\n<li>Direct you to a fake cryptocurrency site, often imitating a real portal. The site may well have its numbers tweaked or otherwise deliberately altered to make it look as though your suggested investments are sound bets. The reality is that they are not, and by the time you realize it, your money has gone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once you are satisfied with the profit on your investment and decide to cash out, the problems come at you from different directions. A hefty withdrawal fee, a huge tax to be paid, will need to be paid to get your money back. Which you won\u2019t, but this is the last drop the scammers will try to wring out of you.<\/p>\n<p>John Oliver talked at length about Pig Butchering scams in the latest episode of <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/pLPpl2ISKTg?si=Fx0-wEOPnhDTc-Ba\">Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)<\/a>, lifting the lid on some shocking examples of people who got scammed, and the role that organized crime plays behind the scenes. (Note that you&#8217;ll need to be in the USA to watch it, or have a good <a href=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/vpn\">VPN<\/a> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/14.0.0\/72x72\/1f609.png\" alt=\"\ud83d\ude09\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" \/><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>As John Oliver put it:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cYou may have an image of a person who might fall for pig butchering, but unless you are looking in a mirror, you might be wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So here are some pointers.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-avoid-becoming-the-pig\">How to avoid becoming the pig<\/h3>\n<p>The good thing about pig butchery scams is that they mostly follow a narrow pattern, with few variations. If you recognize the signs, you stand a very good chance of going about your day with a distinct lack of pig-related issues. The signs are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stray messages for \u201csomeone else\u201d appear out of the blue.<\/li>\n<li>The profile pic of the person you\u2019re talking to looks like someone who is a model.<\/li>\n<li>Common scam opening lines may involve: Sports, golfing, travel, fitness.<\/li>\n<li>At some point they will ask you about investments and\/or cryptocurrency.<\/li>\n<li>They will ask you to invest, or take some of their money and use that instead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see, there is a very specific goal in mind for the pig butcher scammers, and if you find yourself drawn down this path, the alarm bells should be ringing by step 4 or 5. This is definitely one of those \u201cIf it\u2019s too good to be true\u201d moments, and the part where you make your excuses and leave (but not before hitting block and reporting them).<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-digital-footprint-scan\">Digital Footprint scan<\/h3>\n<p>If you want to find out how much of your own data is currently exposed online, you can try our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/digital-footprint\">free Digital Footprint scan<\/a>. Fill in the email address you\u2019re curious about (it\u2019s best to submit the one you most frequently use) and we\u2019ll send you a report.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-malware-bytes-button mb-button\" id=\"mb-button-7ba16f0b-04e8-4679-9512-2f21a0971dcf\">\n<div class=\"mb-button__row u-justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"mb-button__item mb-button-item-0\">\n<p class=\"btn-main\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/digital-footprint\">SCAN NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" \/>\n<p><strong>We don&#8217;t just report on threats &#8211; we help safeguard your entire digital identit<\/strong>y<\/p>\n<p>Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your\u2014and your family&#8217;s\u2014personal information by using\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/identity-theft-protection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Malwarebytes Identity Theft Protection<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/blog\/news\/2024\/03\/pig-butchering-scams-how-they-work-and-how-to-avoid-them\" target=\"bwo\" >https:\/\/blog.malwarebytes.com\/feed\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Pig butchering scams are usually tied to cryptocurrency investments that make for big business with victims on both sides of the line.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[10488,10378],"tags":[28873,30966,32,27053,22873,10574],"class_list":["post-24070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-malwarebytes","category-security","tag-investment-fraud","tag-john-oliver","tag-news","tag-pig-butchering","tag-romance-scam","tag-scams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24070\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}