Two men have been arrested for stealing $230 million in cryptocurrency using sophisticated schemes to hide transactions through VPNs and hashing services.
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Pig Butchering is one of the most dangerous types of fraud that is gaining popularity on the Internet. It is based on social engineering, when attackers spend months building trust with victims through social networks, messengers or dating sites, and then offer fake investments in cryptocurrency. The main feature of this scheme is the complete illusion of control, when the victim independently creates an account on the fraudulent platform and gradually invests significant amounts. As a result, it is impossible to withdraw funds, and the fraudster simply disappears.
Pig Butchering is a type of fraud involving fake investments, often in cryptocurrency. The features of this scheme are as follows:
Pig butchering involves a long-term relationship between the scammer and the victim – about several months.
Pig butchering victims often lose large sums of money: up to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.
The Pig Butchering scam is based on social engineering. Fraudsters find potential victims on social media, instant messengers, or dating sites, and then initiate contact. This usually happens through a random message that was supposedly sent by mistake.
Initially, the conversation has no financial implications – the fraudster maintains neutral conversations, trying to establish a trusting or even romantic relationship with the victim.
Later, the fraudster switches to the topic of investments, most often talking about supposedly promising cryptocurrency projects. An important feature of this scheme is that the attacker does not ask to transfer money directly to him. Instead, he convinces the victim to open a personal account on a certain trading platform, which supposedly provides control and security.
After registering and making the first deposit, the fraudster begins to “help” the victim by giving trading advice. At first, they seem successful – the account shows high profits, which encourages the victim to invest even more money.
However, when it comes time to withdraw funds, it turns out that this is not possible, because the platform was fake and all profits are just a digital illusion. In some cases, scammers allow you to withdraw a small amount at the initial stage to build trust, but in the end all invested funds are lost.
Thus, the scheme can be conditionally divided into four stages.
Gaining trust. The scammer tries to lull the victim into complacency and gain their trust.
Introducing investments. The scammer demonstrates the possibility of profitable investments and “helps” the victim, while maintaining the appearance of the victim’s control over the process.
Collecting money. By demonstrating profit, the scammer motivates the victim to deposit larger amounts onto the platform.
Disappearing the scammer. Once a significant amount of money has been collected or when the victim attempts to withdraw profits, the scammer stops communicating.
Pig Butchering scams are usually carried out not by individual criminals, but by large cybercriminal groups. Direct communication with victims is usually carried out by ordinary operators, who themselves may be victims of forced labor. They are kept on so-called scam farms, forcing them to work under threats.
The owners of such “farms” are looking for people with good language skills and communication skills, so they lure potential employees with promises of high-paying jobs – for example, in the field of IT, SMM or translations. They invite them to “offices”, which are actually forced labor camps.
After the new employees arrive, they are deprived of their documents and, using threats or physical violence, force them to participate in fraudulent schemes.
It all starts with a random message on a messenger, social network or SMS. The scammer can pretend that he mistakenly sent it to the wrong recipient, or refer to mutual acquaintances, information about whom can be easily found in public profiles. If the victim responds, he politely apologizes and tries to maintain a casual conversation. Over time, the correspondence becomes permanent, and the contact becomes more trusting.
Often, attackers deliberately look for victims who increase the chances of the scam being successful. These can be wealthy, but lonely and emotionally vulnerable people who are not averse to making a new acquaintance. At the initial stage, the main goal of the scammer is to establish friendly or even romantic relationships.
Thus, he gradually rubs in trust, making the victim feel comfortable and safe. Unlike many other fraudulent schemes, here the attackers act slowly, spending a lot of time establishing contact. Even if the victim initially has suspicions, they gradually disappear through long and thoughtful communication.
Later, the scammer will quietly shift the conversation to financial topics, gradually leading the victim to the idea of a profitable investment. Different approaches can be used to do this, but the general strategy remains the same – to create the illusion of a unique opportunity.
Investment offers can include stocks, bonds, futures or options, but recently they have most often been about promising cryptocurrency projects. It is precisely because of the complexity and opacity of the cryptocurrency market, as well as the ease of transactions, that scammers choose this direction.
If the victim begins to doubt, the attacker quickly reassures her. He emphasizes that he does not need to transfer any money directly – all you need to do is create an account on the trading platform and try to invest a small amount.
The main feature of Pig Butchering is to maintain the victim with the complete illusion of control. She independently registers on the platform, chooses assets for trading and sees a rapid increase in profit. The scammer only unobtrusively helps and gives advice, which initially brings successful results.
Having made sure that the scheme works, the victim gradually invests more funds, trying to increase her profit.
Sooner or later, the moment of denouement comes. Most often this happens when a significant amount accumulates in the account or the victim tries to withdraw funds.
It is then that she realizes that the platform was fake, and all the “profits” are just digital numbers on the screen. She no longer has any real money.
The scammer stops all communication, deletes accounts, and the victim is left without her investments. Most often, we are talking about tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sometimes millions.
As can be understood from the description of Pig Butchering, this fraudulent scheme is significantly different from other types of Internet fraud. First, its organizers act extremely professionally and have at their disposal effective tools for manipulating victims. Second, they work without haste, spending weeks or even months to establish a trusting relationship with a potential victim. Third, this scheme is designed to receive large sums of money, so the fraudsters are willing to spend a lot of time processing each victim, because the final benefit justifies such efforts.
Such a level of organization and efficiency is explained by the fact that Pig Butchering is usually not the work of individual fraudsters. Behind this scheme are large criminal groups that run large-scale fraudulent farms. Most often they are located in the least prosperous countries of Southeast Asia, where there is no proper control by the authorities. The main centers of activity of such groups are Cambodia and Myanmar, as well as Laos and the Philippines. The situation is particularly difficult in Myanmar, where the civil war has created favorable conditions for the development of criminal businesses.
These fraudulent enterprises are of enormous scale. For example, according to last year’s report, one of the largest fraudulent farms, KK Park, employs over 2,000 people and even has its own Wikipedia article. At the same time, such “farms” are constantly expanding, opening new centers for fraudulent operations.
In fact, these facilities resemble labor camps, which is one of the most shocking details of this scheme. Employees who directly interact with victims are often forced into this system.
Fraudulent groups need educated professionals with knowledge of languages and online communication skills. It is obvious that such people are difficult to find in rural areas of Myanmar and Cambodia, so criminals lure citizens of other countries with the promise of high-paying jobs. They are offered vacancies as call center operators, SMM specialists, translators or IT specialists.
However, upon arrival, new workers are stripped of their documents, kept under strict surveillance, and forced to participate in fraudulent schemes, often under threat of violence.
Typically, new workers on fraudulent farms first arrive in Thailand, from where they are transported to Myanmar or Cambodia. There, they are taken to remote camps far from large settlements and their documents are taken away, preventing them from escaping.
After that, people turn into actual slaves: they are forced to work 12–16 hours a day, while being paid minimally or even just given food. They are subjected to violence, and in some cases even resold to other fraudulent groups. In 2023, it became known about a Russian couple who found themselves in such slavery after falling into a fraudulent scheme.
The scale of this problem is impressive. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 120,000 people are employed on fraudulent farms in Myanmar, and an estimated 100,000 more in Cambodia. This is evidence of a global crisis that goes far beyond simple fraud.
It is difficult to determine the exact scale of financial losses from this scam because it operates globally. Scammers operate in different countries, and many victims do not report their losses due to shame or fear. According to rough estimates, this industry brings in billions of dollars to the criminals every year.
Since the scheme is extremely profitable, it is not worth hoping for its disappearance. The authorities of countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar do not pay enough attention to combating this type of fraud, so protection against it remains the personal responsibility of each person.
Basic safety rules:
Be careful with casual online dating – even if a person communicates with you for a long time and seems honest, this may be part of a scam.
Do not invest in dubious projects – no large profits can be guaranteed, especially when you are persuaded to invest money without verified sources of information.
Be careful with cryptocurrency investments – due to the anonymity and irreversibility of transactions, scammers often use cryptocurrency to deceive.
Remember the main rule of investment – the higher the profit you are promised, the higher the risk of losing all your money. Never invest funds that you are not ready to lose.
Warn your family and friends – the more people are aware of this fraudulent scheme, the less chance the attackers have of getting new victims.
Protecting yourself from scams depends on being vigilant and thinking critically. If an offer seems too good to be true, think twice before trusting it with your money and personal information.
Якщо ви підозрюєте, що стали жертвою шахрайства Pig Butchering, терміново:
Notify your bank and request that the transactions be blocked.
Contact your local police and file an official report.
File a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): https://www.ic3.gov.
Send the information to the US Secret Service at [email protected], they will forward your request to the appropriate department for immediate investigation.
Check customers using the KYC (Know Your Customer) system: do companies and individuals have websites, are they officially registered?
Freeze suspicious transactions and require proof of the origin of funds.
Check recipients of outgoing transactions for fraud.
Report suspicious transactions to law enforcement and refer customers to local police.
File Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and 314(b) and contact the FBI’s IC3 (https://www.ic3.gov) or to the US Secret Service ([email protected]).
Pig Butchering is a scam that can be avoided by being careful and not trusting too good offers on the internet.
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