The US Department of Justice has seized seven websites used to carry out pig butchering schemes. The FBI reported that losses to pig butchering amounted to $429 million in the U.S. last year.
Seven websites that were being utilized by scammers to commit “pig butchering,” a bitcoin scam, have been confiscated by the U.S. Department of Justice. According to reports, the Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office has taken seven domain names connected to the fraud. Five individuals were tricked into depositing cryptocurrency into sites they thought were the Singapore International Monetary Exchange between May and August 2022 by con artists. The victims suffered damages totaling $10 million.
Unfortunately, the fraudsters had successfully “spoofed” these domains to make it look like they were a real company. The assets were immediately transferred to various wallets under the scammers’ control after victims deposited their cryptocurrency through the websites.
Scammers are adopting the increasingly common confidence tactic of pig butchering to steal cryptocurrency. Con artists will contact prospective victims using social media platforms, dating apps, or even random text messages.
After establishing a rapport with the victims, scammers persuade them to invest in cryptocurrencies. The fraudsters make a series of investments before blocking the victims and escaping with the stolen money.
FBI Received More Than 4,000 Complaints
Pig slaughtering, which the FBI claims began in China in 2019, has increased in popularity in the West. A large portion of the $242 million AUD lost to cryptocurrency frauds in Australia this year involved pig slaughtering operations. Over 4,300 complaints about pig slaughtering scams were sent to the Bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center last year. The total cost of these losses was about $429 million.
Federal officials have provided some safety tips and alerted prospective victims to certain questionable conduct. They shouldn’t, for instance, pay money to someone they haven’t met in person. Even then, they should confirm these people’s identities, especially if they offer investment possibilities.
