On Monday, the U.S. Justice Department (DoJ) announced the removal of seven domain names in connection with a bitcoin “pig slaughtering” hoax. The actors received almost $10 million from five victims as part of the deceptive plan, according to the DoJ, which ran from May to August 2022.
Pig butchering, also known as Sha Zhu Pan, is a sort of con where con artists convince unwary investors to deliver their cryptocurrency holdings. The perpetrators communicate with potential victims using SMS messages, social media, and dating apps.
In an effort to gain their trust, these people start phony relationships with them in order to con them into investing in cryptocurrencies on a dubious website.
The scammer disappears after receiving the money for the false investing program and takes it with them, leaving the victim with considerable losses, according to the DoJ.
The agency said that each of the seven confiscated portals imitated the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX).
However, the digital currencies are reported to have been quickly moved through a variety of private wallets and exchanging services to obfuscate the trail once the money was transferred into wallet addresses allegedly provided by these domains.
Sherrod DeGrippo, vice president of threat research and detection at Proofpoint, recently told The Hacker News that the “Pig Butchering hoax demonstrates the lengths actors will go to socially engineer a target into falling victim to crime perpetuated by massive cybercrime ecosystems.”
“The actor exploits that sentiment for financial benefit, often at the expense of millions of dollars, due to the emotional manipulation, friendly tone, and length of the pre-exploitation phase.”
According to a warning issued by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last month, the victims experienced further losses when they tried to withdraw their investments because they were required to pay additional taxes or fines.
In April, the intelligence service disclosed that in 2021, it received more than 4,300 reports about crypto-romance frauds, leading to losses of more than $429 million.
According to academics Tim Kromphardt and Genina Po, “These criminal companies have exploited gold, forex, stocks, and other themes to exploit their victims in addition to cryptocurrency-based lures.”
“Due to the close-knit character of the discussions leading up to the’slaughter,’ such schemes are successful. Threat actors who use this kind of social engineering to exploit victims, akin to romance fraud, prioritize causing victims shame and embarrassment.”