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It sounds unpleasant, but so-called “pig-butchering” scams are on the rise. These scams happen when someone seemingly friendly and open befriends you online and over time, through a series of conversations, persuade you to part with money.
It’s often a little at first, suggesting you put some cash into a “too-good-to-be-true” investment. Only, of course, the investment is a scam and fraudulent. The scam often begins with a simple message. It might appear in a text, an email or pop up in your social media, such as in your Instagram account.
The opening might simply be someone saying “hello!”, often accompanied by an attractive photograph. It might say they would like to connect with you, or they admire your social posts.
But don’t be fooled – this is one step in a sophisticated scam technique that starts seemingly friendly but evolves into manipulating you into making fake investments.
The term “pig-butchering” alludes to the “fattening up” of the victim and then slowly trimming more and more away. Victims have suddenly looked back and found their bank accounts emptied into non-existent investments.
The scam operates on an industrial scale, largely emerging from south-east Asia, with criminal gangs targeting people all over the world. There are even “scam manuals” on how to set it up and the gangs often use human trafficking victims who are forced into making contact in “scam sweatshops”.
Signs to look out for:
The process begins with the creation of a fake identity, complete with pictures that are not of the scammer, but stolen from other accounts, often presenting a lifestyle of glamour and affluence.
Then they make contact. It might appear to be a ‘wrong number’ on WhatsApp for example, but leads into conversation and contact, sometimes over months.
The scammers make conversation about disarming subjects like family and work, but gently gather information they later use to manipulate the victim, often creating made up stories to reflect what they’re hearing, to build trust.
READ MORE: 5 methods to avoid a subscription scam – look out for hidden monthly payments
At the right moment the scammer switches to talk of investing. They’ll share their ‘successes’, show screenshots of a share account and so on, and then suggest the victim opens an account. But of course it’s all a sham and the money the victim deposits goes straight to the scammer.
The scammer will show the success of the investment by fake photos or files, and persuade the victim to part with even more. And it keeps going – until it’s too late. Victims are often cleared out of tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds. At the fatal moment the scammer disappears, stops all contact and can’t be found.
What to do if you are contacted by a random person:
So, if you’re approached by a stranger online, be extremely cautious. In any conversation about potential investment, make sure you do your own independent research into it. Approach with scepticism.
Take action: If you think you’ve been scammed, or even if you think someone may be trying to set you up for “pig-butchering”, report it to Action Fraud.
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My email inbox is constantly full and most of it is irrelevant marketing from retailers I bought from years ago. I know I can go through and unsubscribe to each of them, but how do I avoid signing up in the first place, even if I do buy something?
It’s always a good idea to detox your inbox. The best way to prevent it from building up is to opt out of marketing communications when you’re in the process of buying something. If you have already signed up, it’s not too late. Removing yourself from as many databases as possible is the best way to keep track of your personal information. You can do this yourself by emailing each company individually or you can make data deletion requests, via a service such as Rightly Protect, to a whole range of companies in one go. The only effective way to prevent falling victim to a scam is to take back control of who has access to your data.
Tip of the week
Misspell your name or use capitals when sharing data with sites you are concerned about. This way, if your data is shared with scammers, it’s significantly harder for them to steal your identity. Plus, future scam emails that you receive could be highlighted by the wrong spelling.
Remember: If you have received a text you think is a scam then you can forward to 7726 or take a screenshot and send it to report@phishing.gov.uk. If you are receiving lots of unwanted phone calls or text messages you can also consider removing your details from data brokers, ensuring that you use a right to object to processing of your data.
You can learn more about this on Rightly to stop the sharing of your data exposing you to scams. And you can take a free training course on how to fight against scams on www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk. The more we talk about scams the more we take away the shame.
