A new unpleasantly named trend amongst scammers is being reported as being on the rise.
The term used for the scamming technique is called “pig-butchering”. Referring to the idea of “fattening” the pig before you slaughter it for eating.
The scamming technique in a nutshell incorporates a wrong number message or text followed by some opportunistic rapport building.
The scammer builds rapport over time with a target until they reach a stage where they are providing “financial advise” or encouraging investment.
Once they have the target on the line and committed financially they take any committed funds and disappear.
The full article is available here https://blog.knowbe4.com/there-is-a-new-trend-in-social-engineering-with-a-disgusting-name-pig-butchering
This represents a disturbingly human side of scamming that has traditionally been missing or at least very poorly executed, such as our Nigerian Prince who needs a good Samaritan via email.
The investment of time and human effort to achieve scams like this in a world where digital relationships are as common as offline relationships represents a significant threat to anyone on the web.
Using caution in all online communications is a must to protect your personal information.
