Beware of Pig Butchering Scams

The scale of pig butchering scams in India runs into tens of thousands of crores. It is scary how many people fall for fake job offer scams, scammy high-return investment schemes, and crypto investments, etc.

As the name implies, a pig butchering scam involves fattening the victim before butchering. Scammers gain the trust of users by using fake profiles. They use the pretense of love and friendship to gain the trust of users and then induce them to send money for jobs and high-return investments and steal the money. These scams are global, and their scope is staggering.

What makes these scams even more cruel is that the person scamming could also be a victim of another type of scam. Many fall into the trap of international job offers from scammy companies. Once abroad, they are held captive and forced to scam Indians by building trust using social media platforms, typically using fake profiles of the opposite sex.

Check out this harrowing story of an Indian who was lured by an international job offer. The person was then moved to Myanmar and forced to commit pig butchering scams on Indians.

It is essential to talk about this frequently with as many people as possible, given the scale of the problem. Everyone around us is a potential victim, regardless of whether they are educated or not. Quick money and a job abroad is a honeypot that gets many Indians to act instinctively.

The Govt. through its cybercrime division, is trying to fight & improve India’s response for which they’re hiring. You can check out @Cyberdost.

Nithin is the Founder & CEO at Zerodha and Rainmatter.