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Comment by nonce42

1 day ago

Important: If you've received a text from a wrong number, this article describes exactly the Pig Butchering scam that you're being set up for. Have you received a random text like "Shall we grab a coffee soon?", "How have you been lately?", or "Let's go to the new restaurant." You'll find that an attractive, professional woman texted you by mistake, but she thinks you're a friendly person and wants to keep talking. After a few weeks, she'll tell you about all the money she made through investments and offer to help you invest. As you put in more and more money, you'll see huge returns on the (fake) website. When you eventually try to withdraw your fortune, there will be a small fee, followed by a tax payment, followed by more fees. Worst case, you end up like the banker in the article, frantically trying to borrow $18 million so you can recover the mythical $47 million.

This is an extremely common scam; the group https://reddit.com/r/scams is very interesting, with many stories of this scam and others. Key takeaways: it's easier to get scammed than you'd think. Never spend money to withdraw money. Don't respond to wrong-number texts. Anyone who wants cryptocurrency (or gift cards) is scamming you.