Beware the crypto ‘pig butcher’ scam sweeping America

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New York CNN—

The FBI says America has a pork butcher problem. And it costs victims millions of dollars.

Let’s not talk about what’s happening on the farms, said Frank Fisher, public affairs specialist with the Albuquerque office division. Were talking about a cryptocurrency investment scam sweeping the country.

The term pig butcher refers to an unsuspecting victim, the pig being tricked by crooks into paying out money for a promised high rate of return.

Scammers fatten the hog by tricking victim into thinking they’re investing in something and tricking them into transferring money into cryptocurrency, says Santa Clara County, Calif. District Attorney Jeff Rosen, whose office runs a multi-agency task force fighting technology. crimes.

Once criminals fatten their victims’ digital wallets, they steal the money, Rosen says.

Pig butcher operations typically start with a rudimentary approach, Rosen told CNN: Scammers send millions of unsolicited messages to unsuspecting victims every day via text and social media, often with an innocuous note like : Hi how are you ?

The scammer operating under a false identity builds a relationship with the victim, sometimes for only a few weeks, before offering to invest in cryptocurrency.

One technique is to assure a victim that the scammer has made significant profits in cryptocurrency, persuading them that they shouldn’t miss out on the benefits of investing in cryptocurrency.

Those who fall for the scam are tricked into sending more and more money and even receive fictitious financial statements that make it look like their investments have generated a substantial return.

That’s where pig fattening comes in, Rosen says. Eventually, you get a little suspicious. You try to contact the person who contacted you online and ask for your refund. [But] this person has ghosted you.

Rosen says the holiday season is a particularly lucrative time for scammers, as they often prey on people who may be feeling lonely.

And while the initial approach isn’t complicated, Rosen says the actual scam operations his team has investigated that typically operate overseas, including Cambodia and China, involve very sophisticated methods.

They were trained by psychologists to try to find the best way to manipulate people, he says. You are dealing with people who are going to use different psychological techniques to make you vulnerable and interested in parting with your money.

Experts say awareness and basic due diligence are key to guarding against online predators.

Be very careful when you go on social media and dating apps and someone starts to develop a relationship with you and wants you to start investing, says FBI Fisher. Don’t get slaughtered.

As shoppers spend billions online this holiday season, the FBI says it has also seen an increase in scams involving mega-retailer Amazon. The scams of online criminals are limited only by their imagination, and they have an impeccable sense of timing, says Fisher.

In one type of scam, someone calls you and pretends to be from Amazon or another wholesale distributor, and they say there’s a problem with your credit card, Fisher adds. The scammer then asks for a new credit card number.

Another variation of the Amazon scam involves a criminal calling a potential victim and indicating that a suspicious purchase was reported on the user’s account, which resulted in the suspension of purchasing privileges. The victim is asked to make a credit card payment right after to restore the account.

Sometimes they even threaten to report you to law enforcement about your purchase, Fisher says. Another doppelganger. Don’t fall for this scam.

Amazon’s security team advises consumers that the company will never ask a customer for personal information and that users should not respond to emails requesting account data or personally identifiable details.

The company said in a statement that it worked to remove thousands of online phishing websites and phone numbers associated with identity theft scams, and referred suspected scammers to law enforcement. order of the whole world.

Scammers who try to impersonate Amazon are putting consumers at risk, said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon vice president, Selling Partner Services. Although these scams take place outside of our store, we will continue to invest in consumer protection and educate the public on how to avoid scams.

The FBI says other types of scams on the rise this holiday season are largely aimed at scamming seniors. Scammers tend to focus on older people because they know they’re trusted, and they know older Americans generally have more money, Fisher says.

In so-called sweepstakes scams, victims are contacted and congratulated for winning a sweepstakes prize, but are told they must send money first to cover taxes and processing fees which can be exorbitant.

Legitimate sweepstakes won’t do that, Fisher says. They won’t charge you upfront to get your money back.

There were about 60 fake coin toss victims in New Mexico alone last year, whose collective losses totaled $1 million, he says.

The FBI suggests people check with relatives and elderly friends about their online habits and whether they may have been targeted by cybercriminals.

If someone has approached them and wants to be their friend and develop a relationship, says Fisher, ask questions.

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