You can barely blink today because then you suddenly fall off the train when it comes to technology because development is so incredibly fast. Incredibly fast indeed, because for those of us who are older, the Internet as such is not an old invention, although the younger generations know nothing else. New threats and dangers come with new technologies, and now, for example, efforts are being made to regulate artificial intelligence out of sheer fear of the possibilities that come with it.
For those born before the Internet entered every household, as well as for those who are for other reasons unfamiliar with technology, danger lurks behind every email and private message, if you look deep into the years. Cybercrime has become more profitable than drug production, counterfeiting and human trafficking combined – and is growing every day. The victims probably number in the billions, but the nature of the crimes is such that only a small fraction of victims report the crime and even fewer speak about it publicly, as a warning to others. Victims also tend to be companies that don’t care if their defenses aren’t better.
Single women pig slaughter
In recent years, hackers have increasingly targeted vulnerable groups of individuals, such as the elderly and single people.
Rebecca Holloway is an American who has just divorced. She ended up losing almost 15 million to pirates when she fell victim to an extremely sophisticated romance scam that goes by the name of “pig cutting”. Pig slaughter involves the thugs spending entire months “fattening the pig”, or in other words, winning the hearts of potential victims, gaining their trust and tricking them into believing they are having an affair. with a real person. Offenses often take place via dating apps. Then, once trust is established, it’s slaughter time, when the thug introduces an investment opportunity.
This fraud was traced to China, but is now spreading to other parts of the world. Rebecca thought she was in a relationship with a French entrepreneur she met on Tinder. His name was Ted. Rebecca was recently divorced there and decided to try a dating app. After communicating for a while on Tinder, Rebecca and Fred switched to WhatsApp, but Rebecca says she was drawn to his interest and responded to messages quickly.
Ignored the red flags
Fred said he worked in the financial industry and was quick to talk about the investments he had made in electronic parts.
“Looking back, the warning signs were obvious. But while it’s happening, you want to believe it’s real. Single middle-aged women are so vulnerable. We have money but we don’t maybe we haven’t met the right person yet. And all of a sudden this handsome man starts talking to you, and you get turned on.”
To start, Rebecca decided to invest small amounts. She deposited money with Fred, then got it back with a good return. But it was all part of the illusion. This fraud is a matter of trust. Scammers refer victims to cryptocurrency sites that they run themselves, but these sites then convince victims that they are making huge profits from their investments. Behind the scenes, however, the money is long gone. But the victims see it as an opportunity to get rich and move on to larger sums over time.
And that’s what Rebecca ended up doing. She took all her personal wealth and decided to invest it in this cryptocurrency site. At the same time, she had an intimate and constant relationship with Fred, even if he was reluctant to show his face. It wasn’t until her friend told her about the pig slaughter scam that she realized she had been duped.
“It was like in a movie where suddenly everything around me became blurry and unrecognizable. I didn’t even try to get the money back, I knew it was gone.”
A tech executive also fell for the scam
The DailyMail spoke to Rebecca and two other women who also lost a lot of money in the above scams.
Kate also believed she had met a French entrepreneur, who said he was involved in importing wine. He convinced her to invest 10 million in cryptocurrencies.
Shreya Datta, who herself works in the tech industry as an executive, also thought she was talking to a French entrepreneur but was scammed out of over 60 million. She says that since she was single and lonely, she was an easy target. She was like in a pipeline, like she was hypnotized and couldn’t see what was really going on.
According to investigative media Vice and the South China Morning Post, the pig slaughter scam can be traced to a Cambodian criminal organization. There are about a thousand people working to deceive people around the world. Many of these workers are in fact a kind of slave who was lured to work under false pretenses, then forced to work and subjected to violence. These slaves are simply given a script to follow in their interactions.
This is therefore a good reason for everyone, regardless of their class or position, to be careful when it comes to communicating on the Internet. If something is too good to be true, it probably is. If someone extremely handsome, with a lot of income and refined tastes and interests comes into contact, there is every reason to be wary – especially if the person is reluctant to make video calls or show their face. It’s also good to keep in mind that if the person seems to change their mood, or even personality, at random, consider whether it could just be that another person is on the lookout for a cheat.
At the very least, you probably shouldn’t pay money to someone you haven’t met, let alone give out your card information or anything else.
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