Where do these names come from?
The latest trend is referred to as Pig-Butchering. The name comes from the Chinese underworld (shāzhūpán).
The term refers to fattening up a pig, taking a longer-term view. They develop their target slowly, looking to get maximum value, and to steal as much as they can from you. It’s basically a ‘long-con’ and that’s pretty much how it works.
How does the cyber-criminal hack you?
The first contact is a cold call, via texting, social media, dating app etc. That first contact is a casual one such as saying “Hi” or “Great catching up last night”. They then follow up to apologise, explaining it was a wrong number mistake. It’s that second courtesy contact that is the hook to get a response.
On getting a response, the scammer does not jump to a classic phishing or scam pitch. They take a longer-term confidence scam type approach. The focus is on building up an online friendship. The scam is not introduced until the scammer believes the victim is seeing them as a friend. Only once that relationship level is reached, will they sow the seed of how they are making money and offer to show the victim, if they are interested.
The scam itself is not a one hit cash transfer.
With pig-butchering, it’s about extracting the maximum value from the target.
Often, it’s an online trading scheme of some type. These fake platforms tend to be well crafted, with live trading data streams and real time growth of their investment. The site will have a legitimate look and feel to it. The victim’s confidence will be built using similar tricks as those associated with traditional Ponzi scheme’s. Reassuring the victim by allowing them to withdraw money from the trading account.
The approach and method of the scam are not direct business threats. But they are a risk to employees and their mental and financial wellbeing.