FBI has issued a warning for crypto investors to be vigilant about Pig Butchering. To those who know little about the term in Cryptocurrency investment, here’s a gist of it. It is nothing but winning the trust of investors and somehow pressurizing them to deposit more and more into wallets and websites that are eventually controlled by threat actors.
This issue came into light when the NSA discovered North Korea was indulging in tactics such as stealing digital currency to fund the nuclear ambitions of its leader, Mr. Kim Jong Un.
US Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning digital currency investors not to fall prey to such scams that promise either riches or romance and asked them to be more vigilant about the money that they are investing or about to invest.
Security experts state that Pig butchering scam starts with the threat actor sending a message via SMS or WhatsApp to victims and promising riches and romance. They do so by keeping an alluring profile picture that is not only attractive, but sometimes is filled with malware that drops as soon as the victim clicks on the profile pic.
Initially, the conversations are sweet and are convincing. Then the fraudster plays a ploy on the target to move their digital currency to the wallet of their choice, promising to return the sum after sometime with unrealistic interest pay or double the amount assurance after a certain period.
Coinbase, a noted cryptocurrency platform, has also issued a warning against such scams and asked investors to be vigilant while putting money into firms that claim to be international non-profit organizations, global anti scam organizations, easy money platforms and such firms.
NOTE- Estimates are in that Pig Butchering scam resulted in $429 million loss to companies and individuals worldwide and the presented numbers are just a guestimate and not the actual loss incurred in reality as most of the crypto investments and losses go unreported for various reasons.
