Now ‘pig butchering scam’ targeting jobless youths, housewives, students

Started in China in 2016, scamsters target gullible people, build trust over time and convince them to invest in cryptocurrency or some other lucrative scheme and steal their money, says MHA  

New Delhi: A new cyber fraud known as “pig butchering scam” or “investment scam” has emerged, targeting unemployed youths, housewives, students, and needy people who are made to lose large sums of money daily, according to the latest annual report of the Union Home Ministry.

The report said cybercriminals have also been using Google services platforms to initiate these crimes.

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“Google Advertisement platform provides a convenient facility for targeted advertisement from across the border. This scam, known as ‘Pig Butchering Scam’ or ‘Investment Scam’ is a global phenomenon and involves large-scale money laundering and even cyber slavery,” it said.

The pig butchering scam, which is believed to have started in China in 2016, targets gullible individuals with whom cyber criminals build trust over time, ultimately convincing them to invest in cryptocurrency or some other lucrative scheme when their money is stolen. The analogy to pig butchering comes from the fattening of swine before their slaughter.

To curb the menace, the Home Ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has partnered with Google to share the threat intelligence for urgent action periodically.

The cybercriminals are using sponsored Facebook to launch illegal lending applications in India, the report said. “Such links are proactively identified and shared with Facebook, along with Facebook pages for necessary action,” it said. WhatsApp remains the biggest social media platform that is possibly misused by cyber criminals in India, the report said.