Who doesn’t want to have a better life? Under this premise, so-called “Pig Butchery” scammers move on social networks in search of their next victim to deceive, for example, becoming the partner they always wanted or the brother they never had, then they turn to. investments.

It is a relatively new long-term financial scam in which victims, whom scammers call “pigs”, are “slaughtered” after being emotionally manipulated into depositing large sums in so-called pig-powered trading platforms.

“The method is new, but uses the same features as love scams.«, Luis Orellana, an expert from the Chilean Investigative Police (PDI) and executive secretary of the cybercrime network in Europe and Latin America CIBELA, explains to BBC Mundo.

“The different aspect of this crime is when scammers spend it on fattening the victim and then slaughter him when they take him to the investment. It mainly concerns investments in cryptocurrencies or virtual currencies,” he adds.

What is this scam about?

Everything is through WhatsApp or some social networks with an innocent message where they write things like “Hello, I have you on my contact numbers, looks like we met somewhere”, or through dating platforms like Tinder, where they shoot their target with “Oops, sorry, I was wrong” or attractive photos.

«They make it look normal, and when they manage to start a conversation, life, pleasures, etc. They start talking about. Conversations become a common thing and are always done via instant messaging. “They never talk on the phone,” says Orellana, who, along with CIBELA, is part of the aid program against organized transnational crime between Europe and Latin America known as El PacCTO.

Sacrifices patiently prepare for weeks. For example, they present themselves as the person who gives you the support you seek. This is how they gain your trust to eventually manipulate it against you. All this amounts to a great deal of emotional manipulation,” explains Grace Yuen of the international organization Gaso to BBC Mundo to combat these scams.

When a strong bond of trust is established, scammers do not ask for money directly, but instead offer victims a fake investment website or app where victims feel safe to deposit money.

to invest in

“They always get it. Once they have already established their bond of trust, that is, when the second phase begins, they start talking about the investment and the benefits it provides. Cases in Chile where they were told privileged information about an uncle or cousin who allegedly worked at a crypto investment bank and were informed about high profitability. happened.”

“Everyone wants to have a better life and they give money to people they think can help them grow. Scammers say things like they want to help you provide a better life for your family. Things like this bring them down and make them invest wealth on platforms,” Yuen says.

scammers they make them believe they will invest together, putting an end to the reluctance their victims may have.ie if the investment is $20,000, for example, each will contribute half.

• WhatsApp: so you can personalize your account

Gradually, they will be told how to deposit increasing amounts of money and see the so-called profits from their investments, through a series of psychological techniques and tricks on the website or application they control. They are apps or websites similar to the originals, but in this case they are wrong.. They are always checked by scammers.

“We’ve had people in Chile who start out with low investments and then start asking for loans using their retirement money… the problem comes when they want to pull some profits,” Orellana says.

“Most of these scams are related to dating sites. Especially during the pandemic, such platforms were very common,” says Yuen. But not all scams are just romantic. Now we see many victims meeting their scammers on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, the latter being one of the biggest, but they actually use any social network,” she adds.

who are the victims

There are many, many people involved in this kind of deception. with studies and even financial knowledge.

“About 80% or more of the victims have a university degree, and a large percentage of them have master’s or doctoral degrees. They have been victims of all majors, from nurses and lawyers to computer scientists or telecommunications engineers. They are all highly educated people, usually between the ages of 24 and 40. Although we now see older victims as well, “Yuen details.

scammers They have a scenario to adapt to people of all ages. The target of this fraud, which started in China at the end of 2019 and spread all over the world, especially the United States, can be anyone.

“Anyone can be exposed to this scam”Yuen points out that Latin Americans are among the victims, although they move mainly in areas where they think there may be a certain amount of money, such as in areas with very high salaries, such as California.

They try to maximize their profits. “For example, many victims came to us from California. They easily lost a million dollars in this scam”A spokesperson for Gaso, an organization created by a woman who was a victim of this type of scam in 2021, explains.

“But of course there are victims in South America as well. We know people who have been scammed and come, for example, from Peru, Brazil or Spain. It’s not uncommon at all,” he adds.

This victim profile is valid for all countries. “We have received complaints from people who have work and digital knowledge and also work in finance. Also retirees who have invested their retirement. About the profile of victims in Chile,” Orellana says.

how are they chosen

Scammers know how to use social networks very well to select their potential victims. But the most useful for them is LinkedIn.

“It is full of very good information for scammers. They know your level of work, which in itself says a lot. If you went to a reputable university, there’s a good chance you’ll make quite a bit of money. Same thing if you work for a world-renowned organization,” Yuen elaborates.

“They can also calculate your age from your graduation date and see how many years you have worked in a particular industry. They will start with normal conversations about, for example, how many years you have worked in the tech industry. Conversations when you meet someone at a party. It helps,” he adds.

More than $429 million lost

In 2021, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, FBI receives more than 4300 complaints about “Pig Butchery”This amounted to more than $429 million in losses.

It is very difficult to get the money back in this scam, because the moment they received the money, they immediately took it out. Usually the victim sent the money a long time ago, so the trace of the money is lost.

through Gaso has reported nearly 2,000 people since mid-2021, with an average of $173,000 per victim. this type of fraud.

They accept this from the organization “this is just the tip of the iceberg” a scam that usually operates from centers located in Asia. In some cases, scammers themselves are victims of a human trafficking scheme, as in countries like Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.

• Optimus: Tesla’s new humanoid robot that aims to be the first to be sold in mass

Gaso’s complaints include, for example, the case of a woman in her 60s whose scammer found her on LinkedIn.

“The swindler’s profile reminded him of his son. He was also an immigrant. He had left China for the US decades ago and empathized with the story of the young man who had just moved to the US from China four years ago and is still dealing with culture shock. Her maternal instincts took action and projected them onto the cheater. It convinced him to invest more than a million dollars through the platform,” says Yuen.

“There are many tragic stories like that of a divorced woman who invested all her savings on one platform,” says the expert. “We have a lot of widowed or divorced women who are used by scammers and ready to move on.”

Fraud in Latin America

In the case of Latin America, CIBELA measured the results of the information campaign of the PAcCTO aid program over 60 days, although it is difficult to obtain precise data on the total number of those affected.

In total, 298 complaints were related to cryptocurrency scams. The most affected countries are Chile, followed by Ecuador, Argentina and Colombia.

Also, according to this study; 65% of ‘Pig Butchery’ victims were male, 35% female. Meanwhile, the largest group is people aged 30 to 50, with amounts defrauded ranging from $200 to $150,000. “There was a case of one person being defrauded of $150,000 in Chile,” Orellana says.

Sometimes victims can be the target of a new scam.

“We had a case of a person being scammed with cryptocurrencies via a fake website. Four months later, he received a message from a law firm saying that the website that defrauded him was under investigation in the US and that they were preparing a class action lawsuit, so they wanted to see if he was willing to be a part of it. “The Chile expert recalls.

“Until then, they will not ask him for money only if he accepts. After some time, they say that the case is on the right track and that in the end they will only get a percentage of the money recovered. But every once in a while they ask for money for an expert and they end up scamming him again,” he adds, insisting on the motto “never believe and trust people you don’t know.”

how to protect yourself

From the FBI they sum it up in five points:

• Never send money, trade or invest based solely on the advice of someone you meet online.
• Do not talk to people you do not know and trust about your current financial situation.
• Don’t give your bank details, Social Security number, copies of your ID or passport, or other sensitive information to anyone online or to a site you don’t know is legitimate.
• If an online trading or investment site is making incredible profits, it’s most likely: incredible.
• Beware of people who claim to be special investment opportunities and encourage you to act fast.