Comment by canjobear
6 months ago
Pig butchering scams are characterized by some number of the following:
- Finding marks by sending out text messages which have the appearance of being a normal message sent to the wrong number, and which invite a response.
- Building a long-term relationship with the mark over text messages.
- Eventually convincing the mark to invest in a fake crypto exchange.
- The fake crypto exchange delivers small wins for a while
- Eventually convincing the mark to make a very large investment.
- Then the money disappears.
- The scam is run by Chinese operators in an illegal call center in Myanmar using human-trafficked labor.
This obviously has characteristics that distinguish it from a generic scam.
Example of a scam that is not pig butchering:
- I got a text message offering me $XYZ/day to drive around town with a Colgate toothpaste ad on my car
- If I had accepted the offer, they would have asked me to send in a downpayment for the ad materials, then they would have vanished
A new scam that I'm seeing is random text messages where the other person thinks you're a veterinarian, or play tennis (and they're oddly worded):
> Hello Manny. My customized tennis racket has arrived. I want to play a tennis match with you. I have a hunch that you are no longer my opponent. When do you have time?
I imagine they want to get you into a conversation and pitch a crypto scam.
This is exactly the so-called "pig butchering" scam.
It doesn’t have to be crypto. In Hong Kong it is more common as some gift cards or even straight bank transfers because average victims don’t know how to use crypto