Brits are being warned of a new scam known as “pig butchering” after a British woman lost £107k after falling victim to the “convincing” new scam.
Consumer group Which? is warning Brits of romance scams, one of them being “pig butchering”. So what exactly is the scam? And what are the warning signs to look out for? Here’s everything you need to know…
What are pig butchering scams?
Pig butchering scams got the name because scammers “fatten up” the victim by forming a romantic connection with them before beginning the investment part of the scam. The scammers typically find their victims on dating sites. Scammers shower victims with love and affection and appear to take a genuine interest in their life.
The fraudster will often try to move the conversation off the dating platform and onto private messaging, therefore removing them from any protections the dating website might offer. After successfully romancing the victim, the scammer will convince them they’ve had success in investing themselves. They usually claim success in property investing or cryptocurrency. They then offer to invest some of the victim’s money.
It’s appalling that 2023 has seen scammers continuing to thrive.
If the victim is convinced, the scammer often shows them a cryptocurrency trading platform controlled by scammers. They then encourage them to sign up and deposit funds. One British woman lost £107,000, convinced she was investing in retirement apartments overseas.
Lisa Barber, Which? tech editor, said: “It’s appalling that 2023 has seen scammers continuing to thrive, as a new wave of convincing scams bombards consumers from every direction.”
Government’s new fraud strategy
While Brits are being encouraged to stay vigilant from the new romance scams, the government announced new measures against fraud earlier this month. The new scheme bans cold calls on all financial products, such as those relating to insurance or sham cryptocurrency schemes.
The government also confirmed plans to work with communications regulator Ofcom to use new technology to further clamp down on number “spoofing”, so fraudsters cannot impersonate legitimate UK phone numbers. Another new rule under the plans will allow banks to delay payments from being processed for longer to allow for suspect payments to be investigated.
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