Jun 6
Fake Crypto Sirens lure millionaire Techies into Pig slaughtering scam.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the industry have been experiencing a lot of turbulence in their prices lately. However, that has not deterred some malicious activities from being carried out.
The crypto industry, like all others, has scammers that would do anything to ensure they successfully achieve their desires. Apparently, entering into an emotional relationship with their victims for an extended period isn’t off the table either.
What is a Pig slaughtering scam?
There are many types of scams prevalent in the crypto industry. We’ve listed some popular scams that crypto scammers use to steal people’s funds and tips on how to spot them easily.
A Pig slaughtering, also known as Pig butchering scam, is a special type of crypto scam. It is a situation whereby individuals or groups of people dedicate weeks or months to building a fake relationship with their victims. This is done to manipulate them into investing in counterfeit cryptocurrencies, fake platforms, or sending their cryptocurrencies to shady crypto wallets.
This is similar to the famous ‘yahoo-yahoo’ scam that involves scammers creating a romantic relationship with their victims and later hassling them for money due to a fake emergency. Relationships with these scammers can last for years, and they may even marry the victims for a while.
The end goal for a pig slaughtering type scammer is to have access to the crypto funds of the victim. These scams often only occur online, whereby the scammers would maintain close contact with their victims on multiple platforms to validate their online personas.
A recent report from the San Francisco examiner revealed the accounts of two tech-savvy individuals that were victims of these scams. The two individuals referred to as Cy and R had lost over $2.5 million to these scammers. Despite being a tech-savvy IT manager, R was fooled by the fake profiles of the scammers who had first reached out to her on LinkedIn. She lost around $1.3 million.
The other victim, a real estate analyst, ended up in psychiatric care after losing over $1.2 million in two months.
The FBI has long since sent out a warning over these crypto romance scams, which in April 2021 had resulted in 4,300 complaints to its Internet Crime Centre. These scams had resulted in over $429 million lost by victims.
What to do to avoid these crypto scams
Do your own research: There are many scammers out there, and they are becoming more ingenious with their scams. Use your time to ask questions and learn about the industry. On Telegram, ValorExchange has an active community that keeps you updated on what’s going on in the industry. We also share relevant information on how the crypto industry works and what to look for during your investment journey. You can join our community for free by clicking here.
Trade with a trusted Exchange: Using a trusted crypto exchange is critical for protecting your money and cryptocurrencies from being stolen. You can create an account for free on ValorExchange and start trading quickly and securely.
