pig butchering

India intensifies its crackdown on cryptocurrency scams in 2024, collaborating with Google and Meta to combat "pig butchering" schemes

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Cryptoslate, based on the Ministry of Home Affairs' 2024 annual report, India has intensified its efforts to combat crypto-related scams by collaborating with tech giants Google and Meta (formerly Facebook). The initiative aims to tackle the growing threat of "pig butchering" scams, a form of crypto investment fraud targeting vulnerable groups such as unemployed youth, homemakers, students, and individuals facing economic hardships.The report describes how these scams typically lure victims through social media platforms and search engines, promising high returns on cryptocurrency investments. In recent months, these scams have become increasingly rampant, with investors losing over $3.6 billion to these schemes in 2024. Scammers often impersonate financial advisors or representatives of legitimate investment firms, gradually building trust before convincing victims to transfer large sums of money into fraudulent schemes. The ministry emphasized that fraudsters abuse Google's advertising services and Meta's sponsored ads to launch malicious applications and phishing activities. In response, India's Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) has developed protocols to work directly with these platforms to flag suspicious activities, block ads, and expedite the removal of fraudulent content.

The Secret Service has seized a network domain used to carry out a cryptocurrency "pig butchering" scam

ChainCatcher News: The U.S. Secret Service has seized a network domain used for a "pig butchering" scam involving cryptocurrency trust fraud. In a "pig butchering" scam, fraudsters contact victims through various means, including dating apps, social media websites, and even random text messages disguised as wrong numbers.It is reported that the fraudsters establish a relationship with the victims and gradually gain their trust, ultimately introducing the idea of using cryptocurrency for business investments. Victims are directed to other members involved in the scheme, who operate fake cryptocurrency investment platforms where victims are persuaded to invest funds. Once the funds are transferred to the fraudulent investment application, victims suffer significant losses.According to court records, between approximately August 2022 and July 2023, the fraudsters lured a victim from Warren County to wire funds to the now-seized domain OKEX-NFT.net. The fraudsters employed the aforementioned trust-building techniques to convince the victim that he/she was making a legitimate cryptocurrency investment.Furthermore, after the victim transferred investment funds to a deposit address associated with the seized domain provided by the fraudsters, the victim's funds were immediately transferred through multiple bank accounts to conceal the source of the funds. In total, the victim lost over $341,000.
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