Crypto scam: pig butchering

Hi everyone! I want to talk to you about this thing called Pig Butchering, which is a scam with crypto money. You might have heard or seen people posting about it, even here.

First off, some of these posts involved unnecessary languages such as “if you are dumb enough to fall for it, you deserved to be scam.” I am here to tell you, no. You do not deserve to be scam for falling for the scam. Scammers are skilled in their deceitful tactics, and their methods have proven to be highly effective. There is no shame in being victimized by their deceptive tactics.

Now, let's delve into how we can protect ourselves from such scams. I recommend visiting the following website for a comprehensive overview of the Pig Butchering scam: https://www.michigan.gov/ag/consumer-protection/consumer-alerts/consumer-alerts/scams/cryptocurrency-scam-pig-butchering. ?It offers valuable insights and serves as a practical resource to familiarize ourselves with the intricacies of the scam.

While understanding the red flags at a high level is important, it's equally crucial to envision ourselves as potential assailants and navigate through the scam's kill chain, get this into your muscle memory so that if you encountered this scam, you don’t feel overwhelmed or disoriented. The Pig Butchering kill chain have a multi-phase social engineering approach.

Phase 1: Befriending you

Scammers often initiate contact through various platforms, including this one, by finding common ground with their targets. They may approach you with questions about your work experience, expressing an interest in learning more about your industry. For example, on LinkedIn, they would express interests in wanting to learn more about your industry and think you can help them. Yet they will often follow up with more personal questions or friendly small talks instead of showing real interests in your industry. They often like to carry this conversation to a messenger app (e.g., whatsapp). At this stage, it can be challenging to discern whether you are being targeted by a scammer.

Phase 2: Randomly introducing cryptocurrency

Scammers will randomly bring up cryptocurrency in conversations by sharing screenshots of news articles or profits they claim to have made through crypto trading or investing. When you get into a conversation with stranger, test this out by not discussing cryptocurrency. Do your best to avoid giving them any means to introduce this topic and you will see that they will force this into the conversation anyway. This fishing phase can extend over days or weeks, depending on your level of interest. The scammers often create a sense of urgency, urging you to seize the seemingly favorable market conditions. This sense of urgency is a significant red flag. Remember from Phase 1, when they want to move the conversation to a messenger app on your phone? Being in a phone environment helps amplifies the sense of urgency.

Phase 3: Funds transfer to the scammer

To execute their cryptocurrency scam, scammers require funds in the form of crypto (such as BTC, ETH, stablecoins), which necessitates the involvement of a digital wallet. They may prompt you to open a legitimate crypto exchange account, like Coinbase or Crypto.com, and request screenshots of your landing page or app to verify if sending crypto is possible. This step is necessary because not all exchanges facilitate crypto transactions. However, if you end up transferring funds to an illegitimate exchange, the game is over, and the scammers now possess your funds.

To identify whether an exchange is legitimate, conduct a Google search of the exchange when the scammer sends you the link. Legitimate crypto exchanges have their search engine optimization (SEO) game strong, so they'll show up near the top of the results. Reddit discussions or subreddit threads often provide information about reputable exchanges. If you find yourself digging through pages 2 or 3 of the search results or getting confused with your Google search, that's a big sign that the exchange is fake.

If you ended up opening an account with the fake exchange, how can you tell?

One example of a scammer exchange is https://pbexidn.com. DO NOT send funds to this exchange! It was previously known as https://thecryptoadviser.co.uk/pbexlas-crypto-trading-scam-fake-platform. Upon closer inspection, you may notice subtle differences such as the lack of security measures (i.e., pbex has no multifactor authentication (MFA) option), the absence of reliable customer support channels other than an online chat (which malfunctions after navigating to other pages on the site), and apps that are not approved by Apple App Store or Google Play store (i.e., it just ask you download APK instead). The scammer spent a lot of time and maybe even money to make this platform look real, so it's harder to see the signs.

Phase 4: The fattening

If you decide to send funds for experimental purposes, the scammer will guide you through the process of converting your crypto into stablecoin for trading. They will claim to have access to a top-secret analytics team that boasts a 100% success rate in timing the market. They will claim that your principal amount determines the appropriate trading amount based on risk calculations that they cannot reveal to you.

Here's where the scam becomes even more audacious. The fraudulent exchange offers futures crypto contracts that guarantee a 20% return within a 30-second expiry period. This claim sounds too good to be true, and it is. As the Michigan.gov website warns, these are clear red flags, and by this stage, any funds you've "invested" are likely already stolen.

To entice you further, the scammers deploy a sense of urgency, urging you to increase your principal amount. They may even inquire about your other sources of funding, such as trust funds, IRAs, or money markets, to encourage larger investments. Some scammers might even demand that you withdraw a specific amount from your retirement accounts. They may even go to great lengths to gain your trust, offering demonstrations of how to withdraw funds and potentially allowing you to withdraw a small portion of your investment, possibly with a minor profit. Keep in mind that this is a one-time offer. If you are thinking of scamming the scammer this way, don't. This is a highly risky gamble with extremely low success rates.

Once the scammers have fattened the pig, it's time for the slaughter. If you find yourself at this point, it is crucial to cease any additional involvement and focus on minimizing your losses, and, if you have the energy and motivation, report the incident to the FTC, CFTC, IC3, SEC, and local law enforcement agencies.

Remember, awareness and education are our greatest defenses against scams. By staying informed and sharing this knowledge, we can protect ourselves and others from falling victim to these fraudulent schemes.