Pig Butchering
Do you ever have ongoing conversations with someone on a dating app that refuses to meet in person? You may have been the target of a pig butchering scam.
Pig Butchering is a romance scam with a crypto twist that’s even more unsettling than the name itself. With origins in China, the scam is now run out of southeast Asia and those that are participating in the scam are often victims of human trafficking. The name comes from the threat actor building trust with their target, or fattening up their target, before cutting all ties with the victim and stealing the victim’s funds, or slaughtering the victim. According to the Federal Trade Commission, reported losses from such scams were $1.3 billion in 2022 and many victims have lost their own life savings, as well as their families.
Typically, a threat actor will make contact with an intended target on a dating app such as Hinge, Tinder, or Grindr, although threat actors have also used social media platforms and random text messages for initial contact. Once a threat actor has started a conversation on the initial contact site and built some rapport, the threat actor will likely try to move the conversation to a secure messaging app, such as WhatsApp. The threat actor will continue to build a friendship or romantic relationship with the victim and after trust has been built, begin to occasionally and seemingly off-hand discuss investments or business opportunities, particularly related to crypto. Once the intended victim is comfortable with the threat actor, who by this time has become a trusted confidant or romantic partner, the threat actor will encourage the victim to invest. Given how robust the scam is, the threat actor will even provide an investment dashboard, app, or other product to show the victim that their invested funds are successful, often enticing the victim to invest more. Once the victim has provided all possible investment, the threat actor will take the money and cut off all contact with the victim.
The targets for these scams are normally random and threat actors will likely choose dating profiles for individuals that may seem naive or trustworthy to connect with. Once a relationship has begun, the threat actor can then do research on their victim on other social media sites and publicly available information to continue to build rapport.
Many victims of these types of attacks are smart. They know not to click unknown links. They know to be skeptical of strangers. But once a threat actor has their target engaged in a conversation and they are able to learn more about them, the threat actor can easily become a trusted confidant, building a relationship based on similar interests and fulfilling the human need for companionship. That threat actor will be there when something happens and the victim needs someone to talk to.
Things to remember and ways to protect yourself:
The threat actor will play the long game with this scam in order to build a trusted relationship and will go to lengths to convince you that it is a real investment.
Trust your gut. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Never send money via a Bitcoin ATM to someone you do not know personally.
You can verify who you are chatting with remotely via video chat. If someone you are in a relationship with refuses to do so, recognize this as a red flag.
Discuss new relationships with your friends and take a step back to assess your own relationships. Slow down.
Do your own research. Analyze URLs provided to you and see if you can verify details of a potential investment company outside of what someone you met you have not met personally told you.
If you are questioning a contact you have, reach out to us and we would be happy to discuss it with you.