2024-03-02 20:17:03
ReferenceMore than $75 billion is estimated to have been stolen from victims around the world through the scam known as pig butchering, far more than previously estimated, according to a new study.
By: Infobae
Pig butchering is a scam that gets its name from the practice of farmers fattening pigs before slaughtering them. It usually starts with what appears to be a text message with the wrong number. People who respond are attracted to cryptocurrency investments. But the investments are fake, and once victims send sufficient funds, the scammers disappear. As unlikely as it may seem, victims often lose hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.
A Kansas banker was charged this month with embezzling $47.1 million from his bank as part of a pig butchering scheme.
The people sending the messages are often victims of human trafficking in Southeast Asia. They are lured to centers in countries like Cambodia and Burma with offers of high-paying jobs, then caught, forced to scam, and sometimes beaten and tortured. The United Nations has estimated that more than 200,000 people are detained in scam centers.
You can read the full note at Infobae
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