The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has published a public announcement to spread awareness about ‘Pig Butchering’ crypto scams among investors.
The growing popularity and potential funds have garnered the attention of investors as well as scams and frauds. Fraudsters find many ways to steal massive funds from exchanges and investors. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently published a public service announcement regarding a spike in pig butchering crypto frauds. The FBI Miami Field Office made the announcement with the help of the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
Crypto Investors Need To Stay Aware
Pig butchering scams are increasing exponentially nowadays, and it has become a primary tool for scammers to steal millions of crypto from investors. The FBI has made this announcement to spread awareness among investors who are investing heavily in cryptos. Pig Butchering is a newly introduced cryptocurrency scam in the market where scammers contact potential crypto investors (Pigs) through social media or dating applications, engage in long-term communication and pretend to be the best friend or a romantic partner to win the heart and build trust with the victim.
After building a great trust, the scammers introduce the discussion of crypto investment plans and suggest some phoney crypto platforms which are not even connected to the crypto market or a crypto exchange. Victims easily get attracted to fake platforms by seeing massive returns on investment, and eventually, they invest in them. Thus, their funds go to the scammers’ wallets. At some point, when victims attempt to withdraw profits earned on their investment, they are asked to pay extra fees (income tax, transaction fee, international cost etc.), causing them to lose extra funds.
The fraudsters stop communication and block the victims from social media, and the victims then realise that they are being scammed. These scams keep running for several months, wiping out millions of dollars from crypto investors. The FBI notice states, “Many victims report being directed to make wire transfers to overseas accounts or purchase large amounts of prepaid cards. The use of cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency ATMs is also an emerging method of payment. Individual losses related to these schemes ranged from tens of thousands to millions of dollars.”
Recently, a 52-year-old man lost $1 million through a pig butchering scam where the scammer pretended to be one of his old colleagues.
Identify Crypto Scams Early
The FBI has warned investors to stay away from these crypto scams and suggested valuable methods to protect your crypto funds. First of all, investors need to authenticate every investment plan that they come over online.
The FBI has issued the following ways to identify a crypto scam early.
- A scammer that connects with you may be a long-lost friend or a complete stranger on social media.
- The domain link of the investment platform does not match the official website. No matter how similar, the interface looks like the original one.
- The investment application downloaded on your device prompts a red signal of being untrusted, or your antivirus indicates it as a dangerous application.
- The investment plans sound lucrative and attractive, too good to be true in the current market.
Users who find any scamming activities on social media may report to the cyber complaint center, including as many details as possible to provide to help the law enforcement recover their stolen funds quickly.
