Pig Butchering – Warning
We’ve heard of catphishing, love bombing, noodling, phishing, ghosting, list goes on… but a new trend in scams is ‘pig butchering.’
Several articles are coming out warning people about this twist. They fatten the victim up before the kill.
There’s also a scam specifically aimed at members of the armed forces that centers around non-commissioned officers asking soldiers for money.
Pig butchering is among this week’s top five scams
Both old and new scams are also on the listMark Huffman
The pig butchering scam has nothing to do with farming. The term applies to a growing scam in which the scammer builds a rapport with the victim before casually mentioning they’ve gotten rich investing in cryptocurrency and offers to help their victim get rich as well.
The scammer “fattens up” the victim with phony profits on money the victim deposits in a fake trading app. As they see their money “grow,” they invest even more. At some point, the scammer, who controls the account, takes the money and runs.
The new recruit shakedown
The Defense Department is warning members of the armed services that soldiers have become the target of a new shakedown scam. The Pentagon says at least 74 soldiers – mostly new recruits – have lost more than $143,000.In alerts posted on social media, the U.S. Army said people claiming to be noncommissioned officers are calling soldiers, asking for money, and threatening punishment if the soldiers refuse. Officials say the scam specifically targets soldiers during their first few weeks of military training.
‘You’re in trouble!’
A new version of an old imposter scam showed up this week in Lancaster, Pa. WGAL-TV reports some residents have received calls from someone claiming to be from the Lancaster process servers office. There is no such office.The caller threatens the victim with legal action because they failed to take some action, such as showing up for jury duty. The caller says they can resolve the matter with some type of payment. This scam appears to be more dangerous because it’s not random – the scammer knows the victim’s name and address, which could lead frightened victims to believe the call is legitimate.
Gift card scam
Criminals continue to think of clever ways to persuade victims to purchase gift cards and give them the redemption codes. Police in Canada report a woman in Ontario lost $40,000 that way.In this case, the scammer pretended to be from the woman’s bank and asked her to help catch criminals who had compromised her account. To do that, the woman was told she needed to buy gift cards and give the scammer access to her online bank accounts. Rule of thumb – anyone who tells you to buy gift cards is running a scam.
Fake kidnapping scam
Police in Schertz, Texas have warned local residents about a rash of fake kidnappings in which the scammer claims to be holding a family member and demands a ransom. Sometimes an accomplice screams or cries in the background.Officers say victims are ordered to stay on the phone while they transfer the money so they can’t call police or the supposedly kidnapped family member. Police say there are some tip-offs that the kidnapping is not real, including the fact that the call comes from an out-of-state area code and not from the victim’s phone number.
There is more about pig butchering here: https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/tips-for-spotting-and-avoiding-pig-butchering-scams
Stay safe out there and look out for the words “Me love you long time” as well as those phishing schemes.
Category: fraud
a fool and his money are soon parted
Name edited to protect PII.
AW1
There’s also one aimed at convicts called ‘phisting’ where they tell you they’re just going to give you a tip for your services. Bite your pillow!
What bothers me is how successful these scammers are.
The side-effect to the stupid-mold that seems to be spreading among folks (exempli gratis: (D)-voters) is that those folks fall for this stuff.
Wonder if we could cut down a bit on this if we actually hog-butchered a few of the guilty parties?
I’m all for horsewhipping and the Pillory in the Town Square for starters.
Timber and nails are fairly cheap….
That definitily Wood work to Nail these A Holes….
Speaking of wood, how about putting these scammers into a woodchipper feet first?
The 1SG ain’t gonna like these scammers going after new recruits. New recruits are the target for the 1SG Funds and they hate the competition.
An easy way to avoid most scams is to let unknown number calls go to voice mail.
Now…do I want pork chops, a bacon sammich, or some BBQ for dinner? hmmm
Mmmmmm, bacon…
Now…do I want pork chops, a bacon sammich, or some BBQ for dinner? hmmm
Yes.
Couldn’t make up my mind, CW, so I fried up some bacon and set aside to go into the cheese grits with shrimps for breakfast tomorrow. While that was going on, the coals was getting right for the grilled porked loin chops. Had them boys with some smashed taters and cabbages (sauteed in the bacon drippings). The crockett pot has the country style ribs percurlating lowly, dry rub with Sweet Baby Ray’s Brown Sugar on the side for dipping purposes.
You paying attention, OAM? The Chipster can post inherweb stolen pictures of a multitude of good things to eat, while The King of Battle…THE King of FIRST, can prepare, present, and serve up a multitude of victuals. You want a Frosty Cold One or shall I pop the cork on a nice Merlot?
Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin chops, finished with BBQ sauce
A few more….
Grandparents Scam: You get a call from your grandchild who needs to post bail right away. The parents are unavailable or for some reason the kid doesn’t want to/ can’t contact them. You need to send a lot of money to the attorney who will arrange bail. Sometimes they will use stolen voice gaming files or other online recordings to mimic the grand child’s voice. Sometimes they need money for emergency travel/ medical expenses or whatever. Doesn’t matter the reason it is always a scam.
US Marshall’s (or some other LEA): We have a warrant for your arrest because you either broke law or someone has stolen your identity and committed crimes in your name… and even though we know it wasn’t you, you still have to send us money because… that makes sense.
Refund scam: We need to send you money to your bank for a refund on some service or product that you never bought. They pretend to transfer money into your bank account and “accidentally” send too much. They want you to then send them the overage in gift cards because that makes sense. They never sent you any money. Plays to greed.
You Have Won a Great Prize!: You need to send some money to claim it. This is an old one but a good one that plays to greed.
Any transaction involving a CashApp, Venmo, Chime, whatever, they you didn’t initiate, proceed with extreme caution. If you bought something and your transaction “didn’t go through”, probably going to be a scam.
Hack Stone received a phone call on his cell phone from a woman claiming to be with the US Marshals Agency and she had a warrant for his arrest. The interesting part about that was when she called Hack Stone, he was at work. In the headquarters building of The US Marshals Service. Hack strung her along, then asked what office she was in, and he would come right over and resolve the issue.
I did something similar. After about an hour of stringing along I began weeping inconsolably on the phone. He told me it would all be ok once he got the gift card codes. I explained I would probably lose my job in law enforcement due to the warrant. The son of bitch hung up on me and never called back.
They called my mother, she said “is this *****”,and they told her “yes Grandma, I’m in jail” They claimed to have been out of town at a buddy’s wedding and popped a DUI after a car crash. The tip off was I live in Atlanta, and would have been his call if he was in jail near there. The other tipoff was nobody calls her grandma, they use a more southern abbreviation and only that.
She called me after she hung up on them to confirm my son was not in an Atlanta jail. We had a good laugh, and I told her she did good.
There is a specific level of hell set aside for those cockroaches, and I hope it both hit and cold in the right places for them
Based on my call volume the sweepstakes scam has been on the rise. Depending on time of day and my mood, sometimes I see how long I can keep them on the phone. I figure if they are tied up talking to me they aren’t scamming someone else my personal record for the initial call is 22 minutes and 6 minutes on the call back later.
About two months ago, Hack Stone received a call from someone with an Anglo-Saxon type name but spoke with a deep Indian accent. The only explanation Hack could think of that he must suffered a stroke that affected his speech pattern. Pretty sure that it was something about thanks to Hack’s great credit card history, he now qualifies for a 0% interest credit card. So he asked Hack for his credit card. Hack said “Wait one while I go get it.” Then the clock started ticking. Had him on speakerphone while Hack returned to his work of being Director of Media Relations. After five minutes, he asks if Hack is still on the line. “Still looking, give me a minute.” He eventually hung up after about twelve minutes. Hate to see his employee review that month..
Nearly every time A Proud Infidel®™ gets a call like that, he likes to proselytize The Great Flying Spaghetti Monster®™ to them until they cuss and hang up!
Hack Stone went into Al Gore’s Amazing Internet to find a link to a woman who was scammed by an “FBI agent”. So he went to Bing and started typing “Woman scammed by…” when it started showing responses. The first one really intrigued Hack, and he was contractually obligated to click on the link. You have to give the guy props, not many men can convince a woman to send him. $30,000 with that story.
https://www.newsweek.com/man-claiming-russian-astronaut-iss-fraud-japan-woman-1751475#:~:text=A%20man%20claiming%20to%20be%20a%20Russian%20astronaut,send%20him%20money%20to%20pay%20for%20landing%20fees.
“Even after sending him $30,000, the man continued to request more money, which caused the woman to become suspicious and report him to the police.”
At least she caught on at some point. IMO, $30K is pretty cheap to land a space ship. He probably barely covered the long distance charges.
It was only $30,000 because he was using a Ride Share Spacecraft.
Here’s another one.
https://www.wfla.com/news/national/woman-72-scammed-out-of-75k-by-people-posing-as-amazon-fbi-agents/
Never be the pork in a scam sandwich.
Anyone besides Hack Stone get a call from the “Social Security Police” informing them that their Social Security Number is involved in drug smuggling on the Texas – Mexico border? Hack Stone always thanks the caller for disclosing law enforcement sensitive information to the target of an investigation.
I got one from the Indian guy who said he was “Sean”. Said he was from the “Social Security Agency”. I told him it’s Social Security Administration, and to get it right if he’s going to scam elderly people. Next time he was “Eric” and I told him I can’t find my old card (with my number). Put him on hold for 20 minutes. He’s still trying.
A Proud Infidel®™ has gotten a few calls saying that his SS# has been suspended. He enjoyed stringing them along with a bogus name and SS# telling them about the bank accounts A Proud Infidel®™ has in Zurich and the Cayman Islands, but alas, they cuss and hang up as soon as A Proud Infidel tells them about the grandeur of The Great Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The Great Flying Spaghetti Monster, Sauce Be Upon Him!
There are multiple videos of scammers getting their asses handed to them, just search “scammer payback” on YouTube and enjoy watching Computer Gurus do all kinds of things to them, hack their computers and delete files, introduce malware to the scammers’ systems, hack the cameras in the scam call centers,…
If you tried the kidnap scam on me, I’d just tell you to keep ’em.
Anyone else getting repeated calls “on a recorded line” from “the consumer research agency” or some Medicaid health group?
Never let it get far – it is always a recording.
When I get a live person, suddenly I don’t speak anything but German. (And *bad* German at that.)
Oh and by and by, the way Federal Code is written, if someone calls you, you can say pretty much whatever you want to them and it is legal. So long as you didn’t “initiate” the phone call you can say anything from the grossly obscene to terrorist threats and it is all legal. Local laws might vary of course, but no scammer is going to complain on you.
I like to warm them up by telling them how good their English is and then ask them what caste they are in. I then ask what God they worship of all the millions of Gods and how their sister is doing since our last date. If they are still on the line things get… ugly.
Hack apologizes for knocking up his sister, and Hack now knows that you can use chutney as a sexual lubricant.
I told one scammer that I was a special agent with the FBI’s Cybercrime Division and he threatened to report me for impersonating a federal agent. He tells me, “you’re not an FBI agent.” To which I responded, “well, you’re not an IRS agent and your name isn’t Brent.” I then proceeded to cuss him out in Hindi, English, Spanish, French, Russian, Polish, and German. He hung up in short order.
This! A compliment followed by a question,
“So, which type of dalit are you? Dhobi? Harijan? or some other OBC?
lots of sputtering and screaming will follows as you laugh until they hang up