It wasn’t long ago millions of people were bragging about their bitcoin portfolios to their less informed friends, but since the massive crash, crypto has become less cool than a pair of Crocs being worn with tall brown socks and white shorts.
Now there’s a new piece bit of bad news attached to the cryptocurrency brand; a scam called “pig butchering.” This is when a scammer attains trust with a victim on the phone and then pressures them into pumping their crypto assets into fake digital wallets or websites.
So not only are crypto investors seeing the value of their coins plummet, they have to be wary of a scam that has claimed thousands of victims.
The FBI is all over it and released a report describing how scammers “feed their victims with promises of romance and riches before cutting them off and taking all their money.”
Here’s what Chen Arad, COO of A company called Solidus Labs, told CNBC.
“‘Pig butchering’ scammers usually send a message via Whatsapp, text or another app like Tinder, as if it was intended for someone else, often with an attractive person’s profile photo,”
The scam artists slowly earn the trust of their victims, opting to not demand large amounts of money upfront. They work to convince the people they target to transfer their crypto out of legit exchanges and move it into fraudulent ones. Lines like “don’t you want to have enough money for your kids?” are commonly used to try to take advantage of victims’ emotions.
The FBI reported that over $429 million was lost in these scams last year alone. They tell crypto holders to protect themselves by not taking investment advice from people you meet on Tinder.
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