BEWARE OF PIG BUTCHERING SCAM- HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
It is high time we empowered ourselves with adequate knowledge as the recent bitcoin schemes in the crypto space are highly planned and sophisticated so that you have no idea that you are being scammed. The new trick, called “pig butchering,” features a crafty new twist that combines a romance fraud and a financial manipulation. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), “pig butchering” is a tried-and-true, carefully thought-out, and contact-intensive technique for nurturing the victim before execution.
How it works.
Since their inception in Southeast Asia, pig butchering scams have become widespread. The primary perpetrators of this fraud are a group of bitcoin scammers who ransack dating websites and social media for possible victims. It comprises the development of a fake profile by a scammer who then utilizes it to get in touch with potential victims, typically through social media, WhatsApp, Tinder, or other dating apps, as well as through random messages while pretending to be an erroneous number or an old friend.
The goal is to approach the target and start a casual chat while feigning interest in becoming their “new buddy” or “lover.” In order to continue a conversation, the new acquaintance finds justifications, which leads to constant conversations. They progressively build a relationship with their victim in order to integrate themselves into their daily lives. As they earn the victim’s trust, they gradually introduce the idea of starting a bitcoin venture. Because they are aware that people are intelligent and are aware that being solicited for money by a stranger is an indication of deception, the new acquaintance employs reasoning rather than directly asking for money. The victim is gradually drawn into a seemingly innocent discussion about bitcoin investments and rewards, but they are actually being coerced into making a financial commitment.
The new acquaintance gradually persuades the target to invest in cryptocurrencies and directs them to a fake website or app that appears legitimate but is run by the fraud artist. The scammer will make sure to report a moderate return on the investment and urge the captives to make small initial investments. To persuade the victim that the procedure is legal, they might even permit the victim to take money once or twice. The target is then convinced to spend larger sums — sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars — on the fraudulent platform. The fraudster disappears with the money after the victim sends it to the phony investment app, leaving the victim with considerable losses. While pig butchering frequently employs romance as a strategy, con artists are also capable of forming other kinds of interpersonal or business connections.
It is easy for someone to fall victim to this con because they are professionals who have been taught to influence their targets. Everyone should always be on the lookout for scams, particularly as cutting-edge financial goods like bitcoin and other coins gain popularity. Consumers should do their research before making any significant financial decisions, stay away from individuals or organizations that require bitcoin as payment in advance, be skeptical of claims of large, immediate returns, and avoid combining any investment guidance with online relationships.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF/RECOVER FROM PIG BUTCHERING
If your intuition is telling you that you are currently being manipulated by your online acquaintance, the chances that you are right is 99.9%, so beware and look out for red flags.
Here are some red flags to watch out for:
· New acquaintances who abruptly attempt to shift the discussion to WhatsApp or another social media platform.
· Strangers who send apparently innocent text messages out of the blue.
· People who use a variety of justifications to avoid video calls or outright decline to start any kind of video conversation.
· Conversations between people about their secret trading information.
· The trading platform’s URL may be very similar to the official website of a well-known bitcoin market or exchange but does not exactly match it.
· The investment chance sounds too good to be true; the investment app produces warnings about being “untrusted” when opened; or the computer’s antivirus software flags it as possibly dangerous.
FOLLOW THESE TIPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF
- Don’t send money, trade, or invest with a person you have only met online.
- Don’t speak of your financial position or investments with someone you met online.
- Don’t share personal information or current financial status with strangers.
- Don’t provide your banking information, social security number, copies of your identification or passport, or any other sensitive information to anyone online or to a site that you cannot verify is authentic.
- Don’t grant a stranger remote access to any of your social profiles, bank accounts or devices.
- Don’t click on links sent to you by complete strangers.
- If an online investment or trading site promotes unbelievable profits, it is most likely just that — unbelievable.
- Be cautious of individuals who claim to have exclusive investment opportunities and urge you to act fast.
- Have all your guards up when on the internet, evil eyes keep lurking.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency schemes have defrauded investors out of billions of dollars, and the majority of victims never see their money again. The pig butchering scheme is considered a “super scam” because according to a comprehensive scam analysis conducted by POLYGON DECIPHER reveals that total losses in 2021 alone were in the tens of billions of dollars. Immediately notify your bank, the crypto wallet, and regulatory authorities such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Internet Crime Center (IC3), the local FBI office, your local authorities, and the Department of Attorney General if you think you have fallen prey to this pig butchering cryptocurrency scam. The more time that passes, the more difficult it is to locate or sequester misappropriated money.
WHILE CRYPTOCURRENCY CONTINUES TO RISE IN POPULARITY, IT’S VITAL FOR YOU TO BE AWARE OF THESE SCAM TACTICS AND KNOW HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
It is basically safe to state that recovering lost or stolen money is now possible thanks to the development of Crypto-Recovery Specialists “POLYGON DECIPHER THRESHOLD.” Despite this, a lot of people use cryptocurrencies as a form of investment or a means of trade because they are portable, divisible, inflation-resistant, and transparent. Although cryptocurrencies have benefits, they also have drawbacks. Scams grow in number as bitcoin becomes more well-known. If you’re going to engage in cryptocurrencies, stay away from these frauds and find out how to safeguard yourself.
- Fraudulent ICOs: The most common way to pull off a scam is to fabricate a fake ICO, create marketing hype and persuade people to buy. That is because ICOs are a great and innovative way to kickstart a company and that is the aspect that is misused.
- Shady Exchanges: The second most common form of scam that you will come across would be a ‘shady exchange’. The exchanges that sprang up over-night and started bragging. One needs to be very careful with such exchanges because once you trust them and deposit your coins there, you have no way to get it back if the intentions of that exchange are not right.
- Fake Wallets: With the launch of Bitcoin, many fake android wallets have also been launched on play store. That’s why it is a big NO from us to pick any wallet randomly from the play store because there are chances that it will be fraudulent and you may end up losing your money.
- Pyramid or Ponzi Schemes: This form of scam is easiest to spot but people still fall for it. If you find a crypto project that actively encourages the recruitment of new investors to maximize your profits, it is a Ponzi scheme. This system works on the model of scamming the one who enters the system later. Also, schemes that promise absurd returns are definitely Ponzi schemes.
- Phishing Scams: Phishing scams are another common form of scam in the cryptosphere. Here, the scammers will try to get your username, password, or seed keys somehow by fooling you. Mostly the attackers use two methods to achieve this:
- Punycode
- Fake Airdrops
- Pump & Dump Groups: On Telegram, Slack, and IRC, you will find numerous pump & dump groups just based on crypto discussions, although pump & dump groups are not something new in the traditional market also so why the crypto market will be left behind in this. If you search on Telegram, you will find many crypto groups with 40,000–100,000 members in it. What do you think they do in such groups? They don’t chit-chat. Instead, these groups are the tools to manipulate the prices of altcoins that have low market caps. In this way, people who act fast or first get the advantage and the people who are a bit late suffer from the plummeting prices in just a matter of minutes.
- Impersonators: The most sophisticated form of scam. In this type of crypto scam, scammers make fake Twitter and Facebook account to impersonate the actual legit project or the person behind it. You will find many impersonators on Twitter acting like Vatalik Buterin or Binance‘s CEO and announcing airdrops etc which are never true.
CONCLUSION: BEWARE OF PIG-BUTCHERING AND OTHER CRYPTO SCAMS
Scams in any industry is not a new thing and crypto being a decentralised and open-source concept is one of the easiest to replicate. The only way to not get scammed is to invest yourself in acquiring knowledge about the crypto space and trusting legit sources of information, as well as self-education of investors through trusted sources like CoinSutra.
While its pertinent to enlighten yourself, you should also be aware of the fact that counter-measures against crypto scams have been propounded by a team of Crypto-Recovery Experts at POLYGON DECIPHER who have renowned expertise in dealing with a variety of crypto scams, and other forms of online scams.
